


No Heartbeat Required

by midnight_vision



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aromantic, Asexual Character, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Ghosts, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Obi-Wan being dead is only a minor inconvenience, Queerplatonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26679556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnight_vision/pseuds/midnight_vision
Summary: Anakin has been an amateur ghost hunter for years when he makes contact with a spirit named Obi-Wan. Not long after Obi-Wan starts spending most of his time at Anakin and Padmé's apartment, the three of them realize how well they all fit together.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 52
Kudos: 105





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself I'd write something short. Over 20,000 words later...

Anakin walked carefully as he held the night vision camera in front of him. The floor creaked while a light knocking sound came from within the walls, but all the cliché noises of supposed haunted buildings were just part of the scenery. Even Rex and Ahsoka knew which sounds to ignore, and they only joined Anakin on investigations about two years ago.

“We’ve been here for more than an hour and a half,” Rex whispered from behind his right shoulder. “I think this one’s a dud. I did say tourist attractions are a waste of time.”

“We already paid for the two hours, so we may as well keep going. Let’s do the kitchen.” Anakin’s gut was usually right when it came to the paranormal, and being there for another 20 minutes wasn’t a big deal. Ahsoka could join them when she was done recording in the bedrooms.

The kitchen was small even without the table right in the middle of it, but they didn’t need much space. Anakin did a quick sweep with the camera before a tingling sensation traveled down his spine from the base of his skull. Without turning around, he quietly asked Rex if he set up the motion sensor.

“Yeah, it’s on.”

The somewhat pleasant tingling turned into violent stabs, like someone was sticking dozens of needles into his spine over and over. Anakin braced himself against the counter as he tried to get air into his lungs. “Please stop!” The sudden absence of pain almost made him lose his balance.

“Anakin?”

He turned to look at Rex, who was sitting at the table. It was too dark to make out his expression, but his tone was one of concern. Rex had called off investigations before, and if he tried to this time, he wouldn’t get his way. In the 14 years Anakin had been trying to contact spirits, he’d never had an experience where one hurt him—whether intentionally or not—and backed off as soon as he asked them to. There was something special in this house.

“I’m fine, I promise.” He looked around the room before he sat in the chair opposite Rex. “I want to ask you some questions,” he said in a louder voice, “and all you have to do is wave your hand in front of that device. Once for yes, twice for no.” After a brief pause, he asked the question he always started with. “Is that okay with you?” He figured a spirit would be more willing to respond if he was polite.

Only a few seconds passed before the light flashed once. Rex sat up a little straighter while Anakin felt like a giddy teenager.

“Thank you. Did you live in this house?”

No.

“Were you alive when this house was built? It was built in the 1850s.”

No.

“Were you alive in the last 30 years?”

Yes.

“This is incredible,” Rex whispered. “Should I radio Ahsoka to come in here?”

“Not yet. I don’t wanna ruin the balance we have right now,” he whispered back. “Are you the only spirit in this house?”

Yes.

Anakin had read that spirits didn’t like to be asked about their death, either because it was too invasive or too painful to talk about, and that wasn’t what interested him anyway.

“Do you have kids?”

No.

“Are you young?”

No answer.

“I think that’s a difficult question,” Rex said. “Not everyone has the same definition of ‘young.’”

“True. Um, I guess most people consider 50 to be middle age, so are you younger than 50, not counting the years you’ve been dead?”

Yes.

He’d never had a conversation last this long with any piece of equipment, and he always had better luck with the recorder. Usually, he got maybe one or two responses and never so quickly. It was like this spirit was just as excited as Anakin.

“Would it be okay if our friend joins us? She has something that will record your voice, so I can ask you different kinds of questions.”

Yes.

Rex had the radio up to his mouth before they even got that response.

Ahsoka knew not to run, but she was definitely walking a little quicker than normal. After she sat down and shut off her flashlight, she leaned toward Anakin and whispered, “I didn’t get any signs in the bedrooms.”

“Well, they said they’re alone. Is the recorder on?”

“Yeah.”

He looked around the table, wishing he knew where the spirit was located. The pleasant tingling had returned as soon as the pain had stopped, but it wasn’t giving him any clues about direction. “This is our friend Ahsoka. That’s Rex, and I’m Anakin. What’s your name?” He paused to let the spirit answer. “If there’s anything you’d like to tell us, now is your chance. Just wave your hand in front of the sensor when you’re done.”

Anakin counted the seconds in his head while he stared at the motion sensor, and as he got closer to a minute, his enthusiasm started to die down.

“Maybe they’re gone.”

Right after Rex said that, the light flashed, making Ahsoka jump with a curse.

Anakin grinned. “I think they just had a lot to say.” All three of them asked as many questions as they could think of before the alarm went off on Rex’s phone. When it did, Anakin let out a small sigh. They were out of time. At least it felt like they were leaving things on good terms. “Okay, we have to head out now. Thank you for communicating with us tonight.”

The tingling sensation stopped abruptly, and to Anakin, that meant the spirit had left. He couldn’t wait to go over the audio, but they agreed to listen to it together. It was the first time Rex wanted to take part in going through everything after an investigation. Being just mildly interested in the paranormal, Rex came along only because he was afraid Anakin and Ahsoka would get themselves into trouble.

As expected, Padmé was already asleep when he got home. She was a skeptic, so ghost hunting was a quirky hobby in her mind. When he told her he started doing it as a kid to stop being scared of the unknown, she said he was very brave and admired his curiosity. Granted, his investigations early on were just him walking around with his Polaroid camera and asking spirits to move certain objects. He couldn’t actually afford to buy any equipment until he was 18.

Anakin slept poorly, mostly due to his excitement, but he barely noticed his fatigue in the morning. He showered quickly and sent a group text to his friends to tell them when to come over. “We made contact,” he said as he sat at the dining room table. He had just enough time to eat a bowl of cereal and a small apple.

“Really? Did you see something move?”

He shook his head, chewing quickly but swallowing carefully so he didn’t choke. “Through the motion sensor. I got direct responses to questions. It was so amazing! We’re gonna go over the EVP evidence first, and if we got something, I definitely wanna go back.”

She was giving him her supportive smile, which meant she was happy for him, but she didn’t believe he had found anything. “Wasn’t it $80 an hour?”

It was his own money, and he had a decent salary. Plus, most of the places they went to were free, like abandoned buildings or the houses of people who thought they lived with ghosts. Word spread that they didn’t charge for an investigation, so no one cared that they weren’t professionals. Most of the time, there were simple explanations that didn’t involve the realm of the dead, and while that was always a bummer, Anakin liked being able to put someone’s mind at ease. They had even saved a person’s life once because it turned out to be a case of slow carbon monoxide poisoning.

“Yeah, but I’d only do one hour.” Anakin couldn’t quite keep the defensiveness out of his tone, but he didn’t really care. She spent way more money than he did, and he never said anything to her about it. “You know all three of us chip in when we have to pay to do this. It’s not like I spent over $200 last night.”

She drank the rest of her coffee and covered his hand with her own. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it like that. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up too much like the last time you thought you had something.”

Anakin relaxed. They didn’t fight very often since one of them always tried to diffuse the situation before it became a real argument. He could never stay mad at her anyway.

About an hour later, the three of them were crammed into Anakin’s workshop. It took a bit to find the right spot in the audio file, and instead of plugging his headphones in, he turned on his Bluetooth speakers. Spectral voices tended to be a lot quieter than human voices, so he would have to use his editing software to get everything at roughly the same decibel. For now, he would just manually change the volume.

“Okay, ready?”

Rex and Ahsoka nodded, their bodies leaning towards the speakers.

Anakin hit ‘play.’

_“—at’s Rex, and I’m Anakin. What’s your name?”_

There was only a second of silence before they heard a voice that made all three of them jump. Despite expecting to hear something, it was still a shock.

“Play it again,” Ahsoka said, grabbing his arm as if she couldn’t hold herself up.

He did, but this time he raised the volume even more.

_“Obi-Wan.”_

Rex sat back in the chair and ran a hand over his buzzed head. “Holy shit. It’s so clear, like he was speaking directly into the mic.”

Anakin agreed. He’d stopped it again to lower the volume. “I hope the rest of it sounds like that.”

When they got to the end of Anakin telling the spirit—Obi-Wan—to say whatever they wanted, Anakin immediately raised the volume and held his breath.

_“I don’t really . . . to say . . . you’re not like most . . . misfortune of coming ac— . . . sorry for earlier . . . –imes forget how to . . . the living . . . here to look at . . . –tecture . . . lovely house . . . scam . . . –ther person told me . . . tours have fake . . . set up . . . I hope you . . . pay money for thi— . . . did find me so I’m sure . . . it to you . . . ”_

They waited for more, but that seemed to be it.

_“Maybe they’re gone.”_

All of them screamed at Rex’s booming voice. Since they were so focused on listening, they didn’t watch out for the next sound wave. Anakin stopped the audio and grinned. “I think Obi-Wan forgot he was supposed to let us know he was done talking.”

With a hand on his chest, Rex huffed out a laugh. “I can’t believe it. That was more than I _ever_ thought we’d get. I wonder why he kept cutting out.”

“Don’t know.” Anakin had never heard an EVP like that. It was usually just a few words.

Ahsoka was nearly vibrating out of her chair. “We have to go back!”

“Definitely,” Rex said. “Can we book something tonight, or is that too last minute? If we wait too long, he might not be there anymore.”

“He’s probably already gone,” Anakin said, deflating a little. “It sounded like he was only at the house to check out the architecture, which is . . . a really weird reason to be there. I guess spirits like to go sightseeing too?”

Ahsoka smiled as she pointed at his computer. “Let’s see what else he said first. We did ask him more questions.”

Unfortunately, Obi-Wan’s answers were too chopped up to understand. Anakin knew it wasn’t the recorder since their voices sounded fine. He had to try contacting Obi-Wan again, but using a different method. “Maybe we should try a Ouija board.”

“Waste of time,” Ahsoka said immediately.

“Anakin, you know that thing is a gimmick. People move the pointer themselves without realizing it. Even if we were sure Obi-Wan was with us, we wouldn’t be able to trust anything it spelled out.”

Rex had a point, but they couldn’t rely on audio. “What if we double-checked the answers using the motion sensor?”

“How would we know it was Obi-Wan and not someone else?” Ahsoka asked.

Anakin groaned as he dragged his hand down his face. Did they want to go back or not? “You guys keep poking holes in everything!”

“Alright, fine,” Rex said with a sigh. “I’ll pick up a board on my way home if we can get a time slot for tonight.”

Anakin checked when the house opened on a Saturday morning and dialed the number. The woman who picked up said they were booked, but when Anakin offered to pay double for an hour, he could tell she was on the verge of giving in. He ended up with a $160 half hour time slot, which had him cringing, but if this was their only chance, it would be worth it. Because it didn’t feel right to ask his friends for an even split, Anakin would pay most of the bill while they would split the rest.

All of them watched the video footage since three sets of eyes were better than one, but they didn’t see anything interesting. Anakin wasn’t surprised. Considering the reaction Anakin got from Obi-Wan, their first contact with him was probably in the kitchen. It made him smile a bit that Obi-Wan actually apologized for that.

Anakin went to work on editing the audio once his friends left. He tried to see if the missing words were just at a lower decibel, but they were cut out completely. After he was done, he called Padmé into the room. “I swear this isn’t fake. I wish we had full sentences, but it’s still way more than I thought it’d be.”

He didn’t say anything as she listened, and it was gratifying to see her mouth fall open and her arms get goosebumps. She sat there for a moment, unable to speak.

“Still a skeptic?”

“I . . . I don’t know. You’re absolutely sure no one else was in the house? It wasn’t a prank by the owners?”

“Couldn’t be, not with the responses we were getting from the motion sensor. You have to be pretty close to it for it to go off. We’re going back tonight.”

She bit her bottom lip as she looked at the computer screen. “Can I go with you?”

That was the last thing he expected her to say. Although it was almost too important to bring a rookie into, he would love to include his wife in one of his hobbies. “Sure, but you have to stick with me and not freak out if weird crap goes down.”

“Do you think I’m the kind of person who would freak out?”

He couldn’t picture it. “Then you’ll be staying up really late. I got a 1:05 time slot, which is technically after closing hours, but they’re being nice.”

“Well, I don’t have anywhere I have to be tomorrow. Besides,” she said before she gave him a sweet kiss, “I’m used to you keeping me up late at night.”

Anakin could feel heat rising to his cheeks, and he coughed lightly as he started checking the battery power on his equipment. “It’ll only be for 30 minutes, so if he’s gone, at least we won’t have wasted too much time.”

The rest of the day dragged. Anakin had to stop himself from checking the time every five minutes because he knew that would only make the day feel longer. Instead, he busied himself with cleaning, then with working on one of his robots. He was so excited, and a little anxious, that he could hardly eat dinner.

Finally, they were at the house, and the employee yawned as he waved them all up the stairs to the front door. “You’re lucky my boss was in a good mood today. If you’re not out in 30, I will personally take your gear and throw it out onto the lawn.” He took their payment and walked off to the trailer where employees waited for the crews to finish.

Anakin couldn’t even be mad at him. They were keeping him later than normal, and he probably wasn’t getting paid overtime.

Inside the house, Rex turned on his flashlight and led everyone to the kitchen. They figured it was best to start in the room where they made contact. Padmé gave Anakin an unimpressed look when Rex took out the Ouija board, and he wanted to smack himself for forgetting to tell her about that. To her, the board was nothing more than a child’s game to play at sleepovers.

“This is the first time we’re using one,” he explained while he set up the motion sensor. “Since we can’t rely on audio, this is an easier way to communicate with him.”

“Alright.” She didn’t sound convinced.

Ahsoka lit the candle they brought as Rex set up the camera in the hope that they would actually get something on video this time. Once everything was ready to go, they all sat at the table and waited for Ahsoka’s signal that they were being recorded.

“Okay. If there’s anyone here, please wave your hand in front of that device,” Anakin said as he pointed to the sensor. Nothing happened at first, but Anakin felt that same pleasant tingling sensation. Someone was with them. He just hoped it was Obi-Wan. “Please wave your hand in front of that device.”

While they stared at the sensor, the planchette moved across the board, making all of them jump.

“Anakin, that’s not funny,” Padmé said.

“I didn’t touch it.”

The motion sensor light flashed.

“Looks like we have company,” Ahsoka said with a grin.

Anakin didn’t think it was malevolent. He read that a lot of spirits liked to scare people out of harmless fun. “Please use the sensor for yes or no questions, once is yes and twice is no. For just one question, can you move the planchette on your own again?”

Yes.

Good. Then it would be very easy to know if they were talking to Obi-Wan. Knowing about the ideomotor effect, he didn’t trust himself or anyone else at the table. Their desire for it to be Obi-Wan would influence the answer they got.

“Thank you. What are the first three letters of your name?”

“That’s smart,” Rex whispered.

In jerky movements, the planchette pointed to the “O.” Anakin looked up at Padmé, and couldn’t stop himself from smiling at her bulging eyes. As the planchette continued to move, he was hit with a small wave of dizziness that caused him to slump forward a little. Rex steadied him with a hand on his shoulder, but he waved him off to say he was alright. By the time “Obi” had been spelled out, Anakin desperately wanted to take a nap, but his euphoria at knowing Obi-Wan was with them kept him going.

“Are you okay?” Padmé asked.

“Yeah. I read that spirits sometimes have to draw energy from a person to do certain things.” He took a deep breath, hoping the extra oxygen would help wake him up. “I bet that’s what happened.”

The light on the sensor flashed once.

Anakin chuckled. “Thanks for the clarification, Obi-Wan. We’re really glad you’re back.” Using pain as a last resort, he dug his fingernails into his palm. He did _not_ want to be lethargic for this.

“Yeah, that was so amazing last night,” Ahsoka said. “We just wished your voice didn’t keep cutting out on the recording. That’s why we brought the Ouija board. Is it easier to move the pointer when we’re touching it?”

Yes.

“Do all of us have to touch it?”

No.

Padmé and Rex volunteered, but the light flashed twice again.

Anakin shrugged. “Maybe only one of us needs to touch it.”

“Then I’ll do it,” Padmé said confidently. “I’m the skeptic of the group, so it may as well be me.” It was doubtful she was still a skeptic after what she’d just witnessed, but it was a fair point.

While Ahsoka grabbed the board for her, Anakin remembered about the camera. “Hey, is it alright that we have a camera over there taking video of this?”

Yes.

Padmé rested her fingers on the planchette without even a hint of nervousness.

“Okay, I’ll ask you a question, and to make sure Padmé isn’t influencing the answer, just wave your hand in front of the sensor to confirm she was right.” Remembering that they only had a short amount of time with Obi-Wan, he made a decision he hoped he wouldn’t regret. “And you have my permission to take some of my energy if you need it.”

Rex whipped his head toward him. It was usually Rex who tried to talk Anakin out of his ‘terrible’ ideas. “You shouldn’t have said that. We don’t actually know who we’re dealing with.”

“I’ll be fine. When he was hurting me yesterday, he stopped when I asked him to. It sounded like it was an accident anyway.” Padmé was frowning at him. He hadn’t told her about that. “So first question.” He took out his phone to read from the list they had all come up with throughout the day. “Do you have any unfinished business you want us to help you with?” The light flashed twice. “If it’s alright to ask, why haven’t you moved on?”

The planchette moved under Padmé’s fingers. Was Obi-Wan doing something to her to make her move the planchette? Was it a kind of possession?

“Are you still with us, Padmé?”

“Yeah, sorry.” She called out the letters for Ahsoka to write down. “I can’t really explain what happened,” she said after the planchette stopped. “It’s like I was compelled to move it. What did it spell out?”

“‘Like it here.’”

The sensor light flashed once.

“Maybe he’s a people person,” Ahsoka said.

Or maybe he found enough interesting things to see. As a kid, Anakin had sometimes wished he could be invisible so he could do certain things without getting in trouble. Next question. “Is there a message you’d like us to pass on to someone?”

The planchette started moving, and it was a much longer string of letters. Once they got their signal that the letters were correct, they waited for Ahsoka to figure out where the spaces went. “He said, ‘don’t want to bother them they’re at peace.’ Maybe he’s been dead long enough that he doesn’t want to bring up their grief again.”

Yes.

Anakin still wasn’t going to ask about his death. “What’s your last name?”

No.

Oh, well. It would have been nice to have a full name since they could try looking him up.

“You weren’t, like, a murderer or something, right?”

“Ahsoka!” Anakin looked at the area above Padmé’s head since he assumed Obi-Wan had to be near her. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.” While Anakin was pretty sure Obi-Wan was a benevolent spirit, that didn’t mean they couldn’t piss him off.

Padmé moved the planchette after a few seconds of tense silence. “K-E-N-O-B-I.”

The light flashed once.

“That must be his last name,” Rex said. “I guess that means he’ll show up in a Google search.”

He could have committed a horrible crime and was never caught, but Anakin took Obi-Wan revealing his full name as meaning he hadn’t been that kind of person. It was strange how Anakin felt a connection to Obi-Wan even though it was unlikely they had ever met while he was alive.

“How long are you sticking around for?” Ahsoka said as she nudged Anakin’s shin with the toe of her boot.

Right. They didn’t have the time for him to get lost in his own head.

Padmé laughed after she finished calling out the letters. “Saying ‘shrug’ _is_ a quick way to say ‘I don’t know.’” Her smile disappeared when she started moving the planchette again, and it was another long string of letters.

They watched Ahsoka as she tried to make sense of it, and she jerked upright before looking at Anakin with a mix of curiosity and fear. “He said ‘sorry about your arm.’ I thought the accident was your fault. You don’t think he had something to do with it, do you?”

Obi-Wan’s comment was so random that it took him a second to even understand he was referring to his prosthetic. If someone was paying attention, it was obvious he had a prosthetic limb, so maybe Obi-Wan was expressing his sympathy. That reaction used to piss him off because he didn’t want anyone’s pity. He wanted people to see him for who he was. But now he saw that anger as a waste of his time and energy.

“No. I’m sure he just meant it like how people say they’re sorry for your loss.”

Rex’s phone buzzed in his pocket. “We have to start packing up.”

Anakin was kicking himself for accepting the 30 minute slot. They couldn’t leave now. “What if we—”

“Anakin, I wouldn’t be surprised if that guy calls the cops on us if we try to stay any longer.”

He hated that Rex was right. As the others moved to put everything away, Anakin could only sit there. It would be really expensive to keep communicating with Obi-Wan at a tourist attraction, but he just couldn’t leave it like this.

There was the slightest bit of pressure on his shoulder, like Obi-Wan was saying goodbye, and Anakin spoke without thinking. “Come back with me to our apartment.” It was a whisper, meant only for Obi-Wan to hear. The pressure grew slightly before it lifted, and Anakin had no idea if his invitation had been accepted.


	2. Chapter 2

_I’m an idiot. I am_ such _an idiot. What the hell is wrong with me?_

Anakin was desperately trying to keep his panic to himself as he drove home with Padmé. He had just invited a spirit to haunt their apartment. What if Obi-Wan had been playing them and was actually a demon? It was Ghost Hunting 101 to make sure nothing followed you home. He didn’t feel a presence in the car, so maybe Obi-Wan declined.

“I need to rethink my stance on ghosts now,” Padmé said quietly as she stared at her phone.

“If you still don’t believe after all that, I don’t know what to tell you.” Anakin was glad she hadn’t been scared by what happened. As much as he loved her, he knew he couldn’t have called it off. “Obi-Wan didn’t . . . hurt you, did he?”

“No. I didn’t feel a thing, not even a little fatigue. I have no idea how he did it.” Rather than scared, she was clearly fascinated, which made Anakin smile. Maybe she would like to come along on future investigations. “You don’t get a lot from a Google search, but at least he didn’t give a fake name.”

He’d forgotten all about being able to look Obi-Wan up. “What did you find?”

“His obituary and an article about a college debate tournament. He died four years ago when he was 35, but it doesn’t say from what. He was survived by both parents and two sisters, but no partner or spouse is mentioned. It says he worked in wildlife conservation. I guess it’s possible this is an entirely different Obi-Wan Kenobi, but his funeral was held in a town not too far from us, so I’d say it’s the same person.”

Anakin didn’t know how far spirits could travel, but he agreed that it was the same Obi-Wan. He was actually kind of glad it didn’t say how he died. It would have felt like an invasion of privacy, which he knew sounded weird because why did the dead need privacy?

When they got home, Anakin went into each room without alerting Padmé that something might be wrong, and it didn’t seem like Obi-Wan had followed them. He was both relieved and disappointed.

“C’mon, Ani. The sooner you go to bed, the sooner you can go over the audio and video files.”

She was right, and since Ahsoka and Rex were going to come over early in the morning, he wouldn’t have to wait that long, but when he woke up, it was only 4:00. _God, not even two hours of sleep._ He knew from experience that just lying there would do nothing, so he got up, emptied his bladder, and went into the kitchen to get a cup of water. Usually, if he sat out in the living room for about 20 minutes, he would be able to fall back to sleep.

Just before he reached the kitchen, he stopped and turned on the closest lamp in the living room. The TV remote was in the middle of the floor, which was very much _not_ where he’d left it. Forgoing his cup of water, Anakin slowly walked over to the remote and looked around the room. Nothing else was out of place. He stared at his backpack and debated if it was a stupid idea. “May as well,” he muttered to himself as he put the remote on the couch.

Even though Rex had bought the Ouija board, he didn’t want it, so he gave it to Anakin. Gotta keep all the equipment together, he’d said. Anakin took it out and placed it on the floor, and in case his subconscious got the better of him, he also set up the motion sensor. After sitting on the floor with the fingers of his left hand on the planchette for a five minutes, he felt stupid, but right when he was about to lift his hand, the tingling sensation was back. He abruptly moved the planchette around the board, spelling out “hello,” before the light on the motion sensor flashed once.

“Hi,” he whispered in awe. He couldn’t even be afraid at that point. What was done was done, and if Obi-Wan turned out to be an evil spirit, they would figure out what to do to get rid of him. But still nothing felt malicious about Obi-Wan. “This is weird. I mean, I understand what Padmé said about being compelled to move it. How does that work?”

He moved the planchette to four letters, stopped, then moved it again. It took him a second to realize Obi-Wan was putting a space between the words since there wasn’t anyone who could write the letters down for him.

_Hard 2 explain_

Anakin smiled when the light flashed once. “You don’t have to keep setting the motion sensor off. Just do it if I got something wrong.”

_Y no sleep_

Anakin appreciated that Obi-Wan was using as few letters as possible. Between that and the pauses between words, it was easy to figure out what he was saying even though his brain was running on little sleep. “That happens sometimes. Usually from nightmares, but I think my mind was too keyed up this time to let me stay asleep.”

_Can help_

He had no idea how Obi-Wan could help him with that. “Oh! You mean if you drain some of my energy, I’ll be tired enough to fall back to sleep? Is that . . . safe?”

The light flashed once before he started moving the planchette again.

_Done it be4_

He didn’t actually know Obi-Wan, so it was risky, but he had offered his energy when they were at the house. “Okay. Since I only need a few more hours, I guess you don’t have to take that much.” He paused in putting the board away. “Um, thank you.” When the light flashed, he assumed that meant “you’re welcome.”

It was a little eerie knowing a spirit was following him to his bed. Padmé was still asleep, so he carefully got himself settled. The exhaustion came on gradually, almost as if Obi-Wan was trying to make it feel natural. Just before sleep took him, he swore he heard a man’s voice say “good night.”

The next morning, Anakin thought his conversation with Obi-Wan was a dream, but his backpack was on the floor, which was where he’d left it after putting the Ouija board away. He’d been able to sense when Obi-Wan was nearby, so he assumed they were alone for the time being. How was he going to tell Padmé that they would have an invisible guest until they moved? Could Obi-Wan follow them without being invited? He didn’t know how much of what he’d read was true. Anakin decided to stay quiet about it until he had more information.

Having four people in his workshop was a little tight, but since Anakin already raised the decibel level on the “silent” parts of the audio file, they wouldn’t have to be there for too long.

“You listened to it without us?” Ahsoka asked as she shoved him slightly.

“I did it visually. Y’know, between the sound waves.”

That mollified her.

He hit play and hoped they got full sentences this time.

_“Okay. If there’s anyone here, please wave your hand in front of that device.”_

A voice could be heard after a brief moment of silence, but it was still too quiet to understand. Anakin went back and raised the volume on his speakers.

_“Really? A Ouija board?”_

Ahsoka laughed. “He sounds so unimpressed!”

Anakin smiled as he remembered the look of Padmé’s face when she saw Rex take it out and imagined that was how Obi-Wan looked.

Unfortunately, they could only hear Obi-Wan one more time, but none of them could make it out because he spoke while Padmé was talking. It was right before Obi-Wan had made the comment about his arm, so it could have just been him noticing his prosthetic.

Padmé stood up with a sigh. “Well, let me know if you got anything on camera.”

While they were watching the footage, Anakin felt the tingling again. He was always more sensitive to the paranormal than Rex and Ahsoka, so it wasn’t surprising that they didn’t react. Obi-Wan didn’t do anything, though. Maybe he was watching along with them. But there was nothing to see that they hadn’t already seen themselves.

“We _did_ get the pointer moving on its own,” Rex said. “You should post it online.”

Anakin shook his head. He wasn’t into paranormal investigating for the chance at fame. His reason hadn’t changed much since he was 11 years old. “People would say it’s fake. I’m happy enough to have experienced it myself.”

“Yeah, that was pretty wild.”

Ahsoka moved her chair back to its original spot. “I’m just glad our first real contact was with a ghost that wasn’t an asshole. And it was good timing since I’m gonna be really busy this upcoming semester. You two better not do anything without me.”

“Nah, it’s more like Anakin better not do anything on his own.”

So despite what happened over the past two days, Rex still wasn’t very interested in ghost hunting. That was fine. After all, he had Obi-Wan to talk to, and there were so many questions he wanted to ask him.

His friends declined the invitation to stay for lunch, and Padmé was busy talking to Sola over the phone—not about ghosts since Sola would tease Anakin mercilessly if she knew about his hobby—so he made a sandwich and went back to his computer. Obi-Wan hadn’t left the room, and now that Anakin didn’t have any distractions, he tried to pinpoint where Obi-Wan was. Looking around did nothing and so did walking around the room. It didn’t help that it was such a small room. Shrugging, Anakin set up the motion sensor in case Obi-Wan wanted to get his attention.

While he ate, he went over that one part of the audio file again. He plugged his headphones in this time, but he still couldn’t understand what Obi-Wan said. He supposed he could just ask him, but he didn’t want to risk Padmé walking in while he had the Ouija board out. Instead, he tried to isolate Obi-Wan’s voice.

The notepad on his desk slid into his hand, and with his attention diverted from his computer, he saw the light on the motion sensor was flashing. “Sorry,” he whispered. “What is it?” As his backpack fell forward, Anakin had to fight against the urge to yawn. He guessed two quick movements didn’t require that much energy from him. “Padmé doesn’t know you’re here, so if she walks in while I’m using the board, she’ll be upset with me.” Anakin realized how that sounded. “Uh, I don’t mean she has anything against you. I just think me inviting you here without asking her would be . . . y’know.” He inwardly cringing at how awkward he was being, but he decided to blame his lack of sleep.

There had to be some other way he could communicate with Obi-Wan outside of him asking yes-or-no questions. “Wait! I have an idea!” He ripped off the top sheet of paper on his notepad to get to a blank sheet and carefully wrote all the letters of the alphabet. To make a pointer, he ripped a corner off and colored the tip with a red marker. “Will this work?”

The light flashed once.

Beaming, Anakin put his index finger on the pointer and immediately felt the need to move it.

_O its u_

What did that even mean? He was about to ask him when he had to move the pointer again.

_What I said oh its you_

A chill ran through him that had nothing to do with Obi-Wan’s presence. He went back to the audio file, and now that I knew what to listen for, he clearly heard the words. Anakin yanked the headphones off and shot out of his chair. He knew the accident was his own fault, especially since no other cars were involved. Had Obi-Wan met him the day of the accident? Had he done something to him soon before he got into his car? Why else would Obi-Wan apologize about his arm? Anakin wished his memories weren’t so hazy.

“Go away. I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” he said frantically. Obi-Wan’s presence was still in the room, so Anakin tore his makeshift Ouija board off the pad and ripped it up into pieces. “Get out!” He threw the pieces into the air. Even though it was just a way of expressing his anger and fear, it worked. Anakin could tell Obi-Wan was gone.

Padmé came running, but she stopped in the doorway when she saw him. “Anakin? Are you alright?”

He had to tell her what he’d done.

* * *

It was hard to measure the passage of time as a spirit, but Obi-Wan thought maybe a week had gone by when he next showed up in their apartment. He knew it was a weekend because he had seen school-age children walking around outside, so he hoped Anakin would be home. He still wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, whatever it was. Anakin’s reaction had been so unexpected, and the only explanation Obi-Wan could come up with was that Anakin thought he had somehow caused his accident. Obi-Wan considered never going back, but he liked talking to Anakin, and he wanted him to know the truth.

Luckily, he found Anakin in his office or whatever he called that room. It was so disorganized that he couldn’t tell what its true purpose was. As soon as he walked in, Anakin visibly tensed up. Obi-Wan had come across many people who had heightened sensitivity, but Anakin’s was the strongest.

“Please go away.”

He sounded so miserable that it nearly broke Obi-Wan’s heart. Obi-Wan took just enough energy to pull the backpack out from under the desk. As expected, Anakin jumped and rolled his chair away from the desk. “I don’t know any other way to properly communicate with you. It would be rude to actually talk to you without asking for permission first.” He only took a large amount of a person’s energy without consent when he saw they were doing something that was hurting another living being.

Anakin stared at the backpack for a moment before he pulled the motion sensor out of a desk drawer. “If I talk to you one more time, will you leave me alone?”

Obi-Wan waved his hand in front of the sensor once.

“Alright.”

Once Anakin set it up and rested his fingers on the planchette, Obi-Wan began whispering letters into his ear.

_Found u after wreck_

Anakin’s wary demeanor vanished in an instant. “What do you mean exactly?”

_Called 911_

His hand fell into his lap as he stared at the board with wide eyes. Obi-Wan let him have a moment to gather his thoughts. “But why did it take you so long to recognize me?”

“I can’t answer you when you aren’t touching it.”

“Oh, right.” He put his hand back on the planchette as if he’d heard Obi-Wan.

Communicating like this was a chore, so he decided it was worth a shot to ask.

_May I speak with u_

“I don’t under— Wait, you mean speak as in we could just talk to each other like living people do?”

Obi-Wan gave a “yes” via the motion sensor before telling Anakin what letters to move to.

_But need ur energy_

“As long as you can do that without putting me to sleep, sure.”

That would be tricky, but Obi-Wan had managed to do it a few times before. So that Anakin wouldn’t accidentally hurt himself, Obi-Wan used the board to tell him to go lie down on the couch. He figured telling him to go to his bed would be too intimate, and he didn’t want to make Anakin uncomfortable.

Once Anakin got settled, Obi-Wan began to siphon his energy while he monitored his level of consciousness. He only needed enough for a short conversation, and it wasn’t like he was trying to become visible to Anakin. Actually, if Anakin hadn’t fallen the night Obi-Wan helped him, he probably would have been able to see him.

“Okay, I feel _really_ tired.”

“Can you hear me then?” Anakin became much more alert and tried to sit up, but Obi-Wan put a hand on his chest to stop him. “I don’t want you falling over. Stay lying down, please.”

“Holy shit,” he whispered.

“Yes, I know.” Obi-Wan talked quickly since he had no idea how much time he had. “When I came upon the wreckage, I pulled over to see if anyone needed immediate help. You were lucky I was out that day because not a single car passed by after I made my way to you. I couldn’t determine what caused the crash, but I thought maybe a deer had jumped out. Anyway, you were barely conscious and couldn’t even tell me your name. I stayed with you until the ambulance arrived, which felt like it an eternity.” Obi-Wan never forgot how scared the boy was, how he sputtered that he didn’t want to die, and there was nothing Obi-Wan could do to help besides calling 911. It haunted him for weeks. “It took them a long time to get you out, and from the look of your arm, I had a feeling it would have to be amputated. I did try searching for news of a fatal car accident in that area for the next few days, but since I couldn’t find anything, I hoped that meant you had survived.”

Tears had welled up in Anakin’s eyes, and he let them roll down the sides of his face. “You . . . you saved my life,” he said quietly.

“I suppose I did.”

“Thank you. I don’t . . . I don’t remember you, or really much of anything from that day, but thank you.”

He wasn’t sure if he had enough energy by that point, but he reached out to squeeze Anakin’s hand and was happy when he actually could. It made Anakin gasp, probably from the shock of it. “You’re welcome. And it took me a bit to recognize you because that happened so long ago. I couldn’t even see your face properly that first night in the house because all of you ghost hunters seem to think we only come out at night in the dark.”

Anakin laughed as he sniffled and wiped at the tear tracks. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. Will you— I mean, if you have plans or something— I just . . . ” A slight blush rose to his cheeks, and he covered his eyes with his forearm. “Sorry. I’m not always good with words.”

Not for the first time, Obi-Wan thought he was incredibly cute. “It’s fine. And no, I don’t have any plans. If you want me to stay, I’d be more than happy to, but you should probably speak with your wife.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “She was pretty annoyed when I told her I basically asked you to haunt our apartment.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I promise not to slam doors or move your personal items around.”

Anakin put his arm down and smiled. “We’ll work something out.”


	3. Chapter 3

As Obi-Wan had guessed, Padmé agreed to let him hang around the apartment once Anakin told her he was the person who called 911. Her only demand was that he respect their privacy, so using the Ouija board, he told them he would leave the apartment after they went to bed and wouldn’t ever set foot in their bathroom. Anakin clearly trusted him, but Padmé was still a bit leery, which Obi-Wan understood.

Anakin came up with a system that would allow them to communicate more easily. If Obi-Wan wanted to talk to either of them via Ouija board, he would tap their shoulder twice. If he wanted to talk to them verbally, he would tap their forearm twice and wait until they sat on the couch. Obi-Wan had heard of a way to take energy from the living so that they barely noticed, but it required a lot of practice. Both Anakin and Padmé were interested in that, so they granted their permission for him to try if all they were doing was watching something on TV or reading a book.

It was a strange situation to be in, but Obi-Wan didn’t mind it at all. His existence as a spirit had become almost boring. He had already been to all the places he’d had an interest in visiting while he was alive, and it just wasn’t the same when he couldn’t eat the food or talk to the locals. He became something of a vigilante at one point, but he had a lot of limitations considering all he could do was spook someone or drain their energy. More often than not, he also ended up frightening the victim, which was the last thing he wanted to do. It just became upsetting after a while.

He would probably become bored as Anakin and Padmé’s houseguest, but until then, it was nice having living people to talk to. He rarely talked to other spirits anymore since so many of them were either stuck in a loop, took far too much joy in scaring the living, or had no interest in holding a normal conversation.

“We know very little about you,” Padmé said. She and Anakin had just settled on the couch after eating dinner, so it was safe to assume they wanted to hear him. “Ani, he is here, right?”

Anakin smiled. “Yeah. I would’ve told you if he wasn’t.”

At least drawing energy from two people meant he didn’t have to take a lot from either one. He stopped before they looked tired to see if that was enough. “Hello?”

It being only Padmé’s second time hearing his voice, she perked up and smiled. “Hello, Obi-Wan.”

Living people saying his name was still very bizarre. He sat on the floor in front of them, mostly to see if they could follow the sound of his voice. “What would you like to know?” He was impressed when they both looked down and almost made eye contact with him.

“You’re obviously British, so when did you move to the US?”

“When I was 17. My father was offered a job here.”

Padmé gave Anakin a slight nudge as if to say it was his turn.

“Um, if it’s okay to ask, why didn’t you get married?”

“Really, Ani?”

“What? I asked nicely.”

Obi-Wan chuckled. They knew how old he was when he died, and although many people were more accepting of an older unmarried man rather than an older unmarried woman, it was still thought of as a bit strange. “I never had an interest in romance or sex, and I wasn’t going to marry someone just to fit in.”

Being dead meant he didn’t care what others thought about him, but he had no desire to be around people who were judgmental. If they reacted poorly, he would leave. But instead of the usual surprise or confusion, Padmé nodded while a huge smile broke out on Anakin’s face.

“I know interest and attraction technically aren’t the same thing, but are you aroace?” he asked.

It took Obi-Wan a moment to find his words. “Yes. You’re the first person I’ve met who actually knows what that is.”

“Yeah, I wish that sort of thing was more widely known. It would make it a lot easier for those of us who fall under the ace umbrella. I mean, knowing there are other people like you, and that there’s nothing wrong with you, so there’s no need to force yourself to be like everyone else. I figured out I’m demi when I was 19, a few months after I met Padmé."

She took Anakin’s hand in her own. “We ran into each other at the hospital while he was recovering from his accident. He was getting vending machine snacks to hide in his room, and when he got caught by a nurse, I said he was buying them for me to be nice. She didn’t believe me, so Anakin gave me the snacks, and I went to his room later to return them. We started talking, and well . . . ” She smiled at Anakin, which prompted him to kiss her.

“Never had I been so grateful for disgusting hospital food.”

Obi-Wan was usually a little uncomfortable around couples who were so affectionate with each other because they made him feel abnormal, but he didn’t have that reaction with Anakin and Padmé. He had no idea what made them different. “That’s an interesting way to meet your future spouse. How long ago was that?”

They both frowned.

“Your voice kind of trailed off,” Anakin said. “I think you ran out of energy.”

Obi-Wan wished he could feel when he was running out, but even when he drained a person to the point of them losing consciousness, he never noticed a difference. “Better?” he asked after he siphoned more of their energy. When they nodded, he repeated his earlier question.

“About six years ago,” Padmé said, “and we’ve been married for five.”

They got married at such a young age, but he figured it would be rude to say that.

“Can you keep track of time?” Anakin asked.

“No, so please forgive me if I can’t remember when something occurred. I don’t even know how long it’s been since that first night in the house.”

“About two weeks.” Anakin took out his phone and started tapping away. “I’ll get a calendar for you. We don’t have one since we just use our phones, but if I put one up and cross out the days, that’ll help, right? And I can make notes of when important things happen. I think there are calendars that show three months at a time.”

That was . . . very kind of him. Obi-Wan didn’t know what to say. No one, whether dead or alive, had offered to do anything for him since his death, yet Anakin had done so multiple times.

“Obi-Wan? Does that sound good?”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

They went back to asking him questions about himself, and he was relieved they didn’t ask him how he died. Talking about it was the closest he ever came to feeling nauseous. As an experiment, he slowly took their energy throughout the conversation to see if he could do it without them noticing, but after Padmé yawned twice, she looked in his direction with her head cocked to one side.

“Have you been taking our energy?”

“Yes, sorry. I was practicing.”

She huffed out a laugh. “That’s alright. It’s late anyway.”

“It’s actually kinda useful,” Anakin said as he stretched. “Makes falling asleep easier.”

They said their good nights, and as promised, Obi-Wan left their apartment. He didn’t go very far, just to outside their front door, where he sat and watched the clouds travel across the moonlit sky. If anyone wanted to harm his new friends, they would have to deal with him first.

* * *

Padmé trudged in with the last two bags of groceries, the muscles in her arms straining. She hated it when it was Anakin’s turn to go food shopping because he never spread out the heavy items. He bagged as he shopped, so it wasn’t like he didn’t have the time to think it through. When she reached the kitchen, she had to stop for a second to remind herself that what she was seeing wasn’t out of the ordinary. Food items were levitated out of the bags and over to Anakin, who then put them into the fridge. She knew they weren’t _actually_ levitating since Obi-Wan was holding them, but that was how it looked, and she still wasn’t quite used to it. Two months of practice did wonders.

“I hope you stopped Anakin from buying too much candy,” she said as she dragged the bags over to them. Obi-Wan had gone to the grocery store with Anakin, which had become the norm.

“He bought three bags and said one was for the apartment. I told him you wouldn’t approve, but he claims to possess enough self-control to not eat the entire thing in a day.”

Anakin frowned dramatically. “You say that like you don’t believe me. I have tons of self-control.”

Padmé almost laughed. “Of course you do. Is it good candy at least?”

He dug around until he found the correct bag of Halloween candy and held it up with a grin. “A mixed bag of Sour Patch gummies.”

She knew she chose the right man to marry. She snatched it from his hand, held it to her chest, and said, “Half is mine.”

He laughed as she walked out into the living room. “Why do you think I got it?”

Padmé hid the bag behind the entertainment stand as a joke and went back into the kitchen to help them put everything away. By that point, Obi-Wan already knew where most things belonged. He opened up several cabinets at once, which made both her and Anakin jump. Even though she never forgot he was a ghost, it was always startling to see horror movie clichés play out in front of her. There were times early on where she had to remind herself that he was friendly, that she wouldn’t wake up to blood on the walls or see a ghoulish figure in the mirror when she closed the medicine cabinet. She almost asked him once if he looked like how he died, but despite not even knowing what killed him, she didn’t want to hear the answer. At least there was an entertaining way to find out exactly what he was capable of.

“Obi-Wan, do you enjoy horror movies?”

“That’s a great idea!” Anakin said excitedly. “We should have a movie night together.”

Obi-Wan didn’t say anything right away, and the loaf of bread hovering in the air was slightly comical. “Are you asking because you want me to watch something with ghosts in it so I can point out all the inaccuracies? Because I can just tell you what’s possible and what’s not. Actually, I can’t remember the last time I watched a film with anyone. My friends refused to go to the cinema with me because I had a habit of poking holes in the plot or complaining about the horrible special effects.” He sighed as he finally put the bread away. “There’s a lot I wish I had done differently while I was alive.”

That was the first time Padmé heard grief in his voice. Anakin, being one of the most tactile people she had ever met, looked like he was in pain because he couldn’t hug Obi-Wan. Honestly, she would have liked to offer physical comfort herself.

Anakin moved closer to Obi-Wan. “Why don’t we watch something else then? What type of movies do you like?”

They ended up watching a show about the Bronx Zoo because Obi-Wan loved animals and documentaries, neither of which were surprising to her. The only comments he made were positive ones, so that worked out. They even got some insight into what he did at his job. The more Padmé learned about him, the sadder she got that he was dead.

“Hey, are you okay with how things have been?” Anakin asked as they climbed into bed that night. “I mean, Obi-Wan’s always around, and I don’t want you to feel . . . I dunno, claustrophobic?”

Padmé had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. He invited Obi-Wan to their apartment without asking her first because he didn’t want to let Obi-Wan go and then waited two months to ask her how she felt about the situation. Anakin’s selfishness hadn’t improved much in the six years they’d known each other, but he was very sweet most of the time, so she let it slide.

She would have told him unprompted if she didn’t like Obi-Wan being something similar to a roommate. As much as she loved her husband, he could be overwhelming at times, and having someone else around helped settle him. Plus, Obi-Wan was a lovely person, and once he could touch objects for a decent amount of time, he even offered to help clean. But she would appreciate having some space.

“I don’t feel claustrophobic, Ani. I think it would nice if we got to spend more time with just the two of us, though.” Thankfully, he nodded. “Let’s pick two days every week that are just for us, and we’ll mark them on the calendar so Obi-Wan doesn’t forget.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” He kissed her cheek and turned off the lamp by his side of the bed.

Because of how close Anakin and Obi-Wan had become, Padmé had spent little time alone with Anakin. It was mostly just at night in their bedroom, and she was glad Anakin didn’t ask her to change her mind about Obi-Wan staying overnight. She wasn’t comfortable with him potentially hearing them have sex. It was doubtful he would _want_ to hear them anyway considering he hadn’t been interested in sex when he was alive. She had to ask Anakin what aroace meant after Obi-Wan left that night. It sounded lonely, but Anakin insisted that wasn’t the case because close friendships weren’t any less important than romantic ones. While she greatly valued her friends, she prioritized her relationship with Anakin, and they did the same with their own partners. It was a societal norm Padmé hadn’t ever really thought about.

The next day, Anakin said Obi-Wan took it quite well when they talked on his drive to work. Apparently, Obi-Wan had been worried that he was intruding on their time together, but whenever he tried to bring it up, Anakin changed the subject because he thought Obi-Wan wanted to leave for good. The lack of proper communication was a little ridiculous.

It was strange not having Obi-Wan around for the following two days. Padmé could never feel his presence, but she always knew he was in the apartment when Anakin would start talking to him. She was surprised by how much she missed Obi-Wan. She enjoyed talking with him, especially since he was well-informed on certain issues. His political views lined up a lot more with her own than Anakin’s did. And after the first week or two of having him around, she felt a little safer, which didn’t make any sense. There hadn’t been any break-ins in their complex, and there was plenty of lighting at night, so it wasn’t as if she felt _unsafe_ before. Maybe she had been subconsciously thinking of him as something like a guardian angel. At the very least, he would keep malicious spirits away, so that label wasn’t too far off.

Padmé had just gotten comfortable on the couch with a new book when she heard knocking on the wall. That was Obi-Wan’s way of letting her know he was there if Anakin wasn’t in the room because that was the only thing that didn’t startle her. She looked up and nearly jumped out of her skin. There was a man in her apartment.

“I’m sorry. Did I knock too loudly?”

The picture attached to Obi-Wan’s obituary had been small and fuzzy, so it took him speaking for her to understand just who she was looking at. “Obi-Wan, you . . . ” _Are incredibly handsome_ , she almost said.

“Oh! You can actually see me. Sometimes, you or Anakin will make eye contact by accident, so I can never tell.”

“Why can I see you?” Her heart was still pounding. There was nothing like seeing a stranger in her living room while she was home alone.

“I came across”—he paused and briefly scrunched up his nose—“an unsavory person before coming here. I drained more of his energy than I thought.” He needed energy to be heard, so it made sense that if he took even more, he could be seen as well. “I’m glad I have clothes on then.”

Padmé stared at him with wide eyes. He usually walked around the apartment naked?

He grinned as he sat on the loveseat. “I’m kidding.”

“Right,” she said with a slight laugh. “Um, Anakin isn’t here. He’s having lunch with Ahsoka.”

“Ah, I wonder if he’s finally going to tell her about me. Considering how interested she was during the investigation, I’m surprised he hasn’t said anything yet.” Obi-Wan sat up a little straighter and smiled ruefully. “You being alone here meant my appearance must have frightened you a great deal. I apologize.”

“No, it’s alright. You didn’t know I’d be able to see you. Actually, Anakin was planning on bringing Ahsoka back after telling her, so I hope you’ll still be visible by that point. And he said he hasn’t told her because he’s afraid it’ll distract her from her studies, but I think that’s only part of the reason.” She had to convince him that the longer he waited, the angrier Ahsoka would be.

“What do you think the other reason is?”

“He doesn’t want to share you.” It helped that she could see Obi-Wan’s raised eyebrows. Talking to him before was like only ever talking to someone on the phone. “I guess you haven’t noticed how attached he is to you.”

“No, I—” He slouched a little as he looked at the floor. “You saying he doesn’t want to ‘share me’ sounds rather . . . possessive.”

It did sound that way when she put it like that. How could she explain it without scaring Obi-Wan off? “Bad choice of words. Anakin likes it being just the three of us. I’m pretty sure he thinks involving someone else will disrupt the balance we have, and he doesn’t want anyone to tell him how bizarre this arrangement is.”

Obi-Wan started to fade as he thought over what she said, and by the time he spoke, she couldn’t see him at all. “It is bizarre, isn’t it?” He huffed out a laugh. “And I’ve noticed how attached he’s become. It doesn’t bother you?”

“I’m not the jealous type.” That was Anakin’s issue, but he’d gotten a lot better about toning it down over the years. “He likes you very much, but he’s not going to fall in love with you. What’s the point in falling in love with a dead person anyway?” The second it came out of her mouth, she realized how harsh it sounded, like Obi-Wan was nothing. She was glad she couldn’t see the look on his face. “I’m sorry. That was mean.”

“It’s alright. You weren’t wrong. Besides, there was no point in falling in love with me while I was alive. I couldn’t return the feeling.”

Obi-Wan didn’t seem hurt, but she didn’t know him very well. This was only the second time they were talking to each other without Anakin around. “Could you love someone in a different way?”

“Of course. There are various types of love. And I guess I’m not visible anymore. You’ve been staring at the space above my head.”

Padmé thought she was looking at his face at least. “Just a few minutes ago. If it’s okay to ask, did you mind being different?”

He took a moment to answer. “Knowing I was the sort of asexual person who didn’t want to have sex was a source of great anxiety. For years, I was so caught up in worrying about being able to find someone who would be alright with never having sex. I went on many horrible dates, but when I took a break in my late 20s, it was like I could breathe again. I hadn’t felt a spark with any of those people, and I started wondering if maybe I would never feel it. Realizing I was aromantic was a relief because I didn’t have to force myself to be with someone. But it was frustrating being the only single person out of my friend group since, well, their partners always came first, so I was often left with no one.” His voice had grown softer, but it didn’t sound like he was running out of energy. Instead, it was like a wave of sorrow had crashed over him. “I wasn’t . . . that close with any of them by the time I died, and that was my fault as much as it was theirs.”

Padmé blinked back her tears. Anakin told her aromantic people wouldn’t automatically be lonely because friendship was an important part of their lives, but Obi-Wan didn’t have that. Did he at least have his family? She was too afraid to ask and risk upsetting him further. At the house, Obi-Wan said didn’t want to bother those he knew because they were at peace. She hoped that was the true reason and not that he thought they wouldn’t care.

“I’m sorry. I brought the mood down,” Obi-Wan said, sounding more like his usual self. “After so long without having anyone to talk to . . . ”

“No, it’s okay.” Padmé vowed to be a better friend to both Obi-Wan and her living friends. She didn’t want to push someone away just because she loved her husband, so she would have to be more mindful of her actions going forward. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For letting me see what putting relationships into a hierarchy can do to people. You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

He didn’t say anything, but Padmé felt a hand rest gently on her shoulder. She covered it with her own, momentarily shocked by the coolness of it. When her hand went through him, she somehow knew that meant he had left the apartment.


	4. Chapter 4

Ahsoka poked him multiple times as he unlocked the door, reminding him of how annoying she’d been as a kid. To be fair, Anakin had been even more of a brat. He had no idea how his mother put up with him.

“This better not be a prank.”

“I swear it’s not.”

After they took their shoes off, Anakin found Padmé on the couch with a book, but he couldn’t feel Obi-Wan. “Hi,” he said as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Has Obi-Wan come by yet?”

“He was here almost an hour ago. Hello, Ahsoka.”

“Hey.” She sat on the loveseat and looked around as if Obi-Wan would have left physical evidence behind.

Padmé put her book down as Anakin sat next to her. “I actually saw him. Nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“You _saw_ him?” He didn’t know how Obi-Wan could make himself visible. Maybe he just needed a lot of energy. But why would he only show himself to Padmé? And why would he leave? Anakin didn’t think he’d done anything to annoy Obi-Wan, or maybe Obi-Wan didn’t want to upset him if his death was violent, which it sounded like it was. “How gruesome did he look?”

She frowned in confusion. “Oh, I just meant he startled me. He looked completely normal.”

“How was he able to become visible?” Ahsoka was on the edge of the cushion, her eyes wide. “Was he kinda see-through? Did he glow?”

Padmé smiled at her enthusiasm and explained what happened, which made Anakin feel better. Obi-Wan hadn’t shown himself intentionally, so it was just bad timing that Anakin wasn’t there. Padmé didn’t know why he left, though, and that was concerning.

After an hour of no Obi-Wan, Ahsoka headed out since she had a paper to finish, but she made him promise to tell Rex when he came back from New Zealand.

“I think Obi-Wan just needed some time to himself because he talked about something upsetting,” Padmé said once they were alone. Just as he opened his mouth, she held up her finger. “Please don’t ask me to repeat it. It’s personal, and if he wants you to know, he’ll tell you himself.”

Anakin was fidgety the rest of the day. All he could think about was Obi-Wan being alone and hurting. It didn’t matter that he was dead. He still had emotions, and Anakin wanted to help him any way he could.

It was late enough that he really should join Padmé in their bed, but he felt the usual tingling when he started clearing his desk of his latest project. Anakin spun around in his chair and wanted to put his head down from the sudden lethargy. Maybe Obi-Wan was trying to make him sleepy on purpose because of the time.

“Why are you still up?”

“I was—” Saying he was waiting for Obi-Wan was embarrassing. They were friends who had only known each other for a short time. He didn’t want Obi-Wan to see him as clingy. “I hadn’t realized it was so late.”

“I hadn’t either. I was afraid Padmé might be worried because I left so suddenly, so I thought I’d stop in for a moment. If the lights were off, I would have left.”

Anakin nodded. He trusted Obi-Wan. “Are you okay? She didn’t tell me what you talked about, but she said it was upsetting.”

“I am. It was something I hadn’t thought about since . . . well, I don’t actually know.” His voice sounded closer. “You should go to bed, Anakin.”

“You’ll be here tomorrow?” So much for not coming off as clingy.

“Yes. Now get some sleep.”

Before Obi-Wan could go anywhere, Anakin quickly made a request. “Can I see you? I’m going to bed, so it won’t matter if you make me pass out.”

He didn’t say anything at first, but he could be trying to figure out if it was possible. Or he was rethinking their friendship because Anakin was annoying and always asked for too much. No, that wasn’t true. He let the words of his therapist calm him down before he worked himself into a state of anxiety. His fear that everyone he cared about would ultimately leave him was irrational.

“Even if you have enough to give,” Obi-Wan finally said, “you’d only be conscious for a few seconds. I’m sure there will be another opportunity for me to become visible.”

He sounded amused rather than annoyed, so Anakin had been worried about nothing after all. “Alright. Then good night.”

“Good night.”

Padmé woke up when he got into bed, but all she did was look at the time on her phone, mumble something he couldn’t understand, and roll onto her other side so that her back was facing him. He would tell her in the morning that Obi-Wan was okay.

A week later, all the sour gummy candy had been eaten, so Anakin started going into the bags meant for trick-or-treaters. They never got that many kids anyway. When Obi-Wan caught him sneaking some chocolate, the judgment was practically radiating off of him.

“What? The fun of being an adult is that you get to eat as much candy as you want.”

To Anakin’s delight, Obi-Wan laughed. He had such a nice laugh. “You make it sound like that’s the _only_ fun part of being an adult.”

“Well, it’s pretty high on the list.” As Padmé walked into the living room, Anakin crumpled up the chocolate wrapper and shoved it into his pants, earning a “tsk” from Obi-Wan. It wasn’t that she’d get mad at him, but she would hide the bags if she knew. He was a terrible actor, so she gave him a suspicious look when she sat on the other end of the couch. He needed a distraction. “Hey, Obi-Wan, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Halloween. Do you get all spooky?”

Padmé laughed and began dividing her wet hair into three sections.

“I’m not sure I know what you mean by ‘spooky,’ but I don’t try to scare anyone. The most I do is walk around admiring the costumes and decorations. Padmé, would you like me to do that for you?”

“You know how to braid hair?”

“I had two sisters. I can even do a French braid.”

She smiled and dropped her hands into her lap. “Just a regular braid will be fine. Thank you.”

She turned so that she was facing the end table, which gave Anakin a full view of the back of her head. It was very strange to watch Padmé’s hair seemingly move on its own. As she and Obi-Wan started chatting away, it finally hit Anakin how close they’d become over the past week. Padmé used to do her own thing more often than not while Obi-Wan and Anakin talked or watched something on TV, but now she readily joined the conversation and had even asked him if he wanted to go with her when she went food shopping. Whatever sparked that change had to do with what Obi-Wan talked about the day he became visible.

It made him a little jealous. He loved that they were getting along so well, but that meant Obi-Wan was paying less attention to him. Anakin knew he was being childish, and he didn’t want to revert to his old self where he would lash out at the person he felt was ignoring him. He had to swallow it down and just be happy that Obi-Wan was there at all.

“Where do you go at night?” Padmé asked after he was done with her hair.

That was something Anakin had wondered about too.

“Oh, I—” It took him a few seconds to keep going. “I usually sit outside your front door. If that bothers either of you, I’ll stop.”

She didn’t look in the direction of Obi-Wan’s voice, but that was probably because she’d be looking at Anakin, and it would get confusing. Instead, she looked at the floor in front of where Obi-Wan was sitting. “Why would that bother us?”

“You don’t want me inside at night, so . . . ”

“You can be outside,” Anakin said. He couldn’t understand why Obi-Wan thought they’d have a problem with him essentially guarding their door. Oh. “Wait, do you sit out there because you want to protect us?” Obi-Wan didn’t answer, but Anakin knew he was still with them. It almost seemed like he was embarrassed.

“You don’t have to do that,” Padmé said.

“I don’t mind,” Obi-Wan said quietly. “It’s peaceful here at night.”

Anakin had so much affection for him in that moment, but because Obi-Wan was a spirit, Anakin could never be the friend he truly wanted to be. He kept wishing he’d known Obi-Wan while he was alive, or better yet, that Obi-Wan was alive now. Was there something Anakin could have done to prevent his death?

“Obi-Wan, how did you die?”

Padmé winced, like she thought that was the wrong thing to say, but she didn’t admonish him for it. He knew she was just as curious.

The silence went on for long enough that Anakin was about to apologize for asking.

“I didn’t feel it.” Obi-Wan’s voice was even softer, and it was hard to tell if he was running out of energy or just sad. “I never really took proper care of myself because I was so focused on my work. One morning, I fell asleep behind the wheel, and that was it. Standing there in the middle of the chaos, it didn’t take me long to figure out what happened. A car had swerved to avoid me when I ended up in the oncoming lane, and a small child was injured as a result. Even though she recovered, it was still my actions that led to her getting hurt. What if she had died? What if there had been more cars on the road and . . . ”

Anakin had never felt such deep sorrow, and it was beyond strange to know it was coming from outside himself. The only other time he’d felt a spirit’s emotions was years ago when he started to take Ahsoka along. The spirit was angry when all they’d done was walk through the door, so they left immediately. But this was different. Tears were building in his eyes as if the pain was his own.

“I’m sorry,” Obi-Wan said. “I sometimes forget how sensitive you are.”

He used the bottom of his shirt to soak up the tears. “No, I’m sorry I upset you by asking.”

Padmé hesitantly reached out and stopped with a small gasp. It looked like she was touching Obi-Wan’s shoulder, judging from the height and position of her hand. “It was an accident. You didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

“I know. I was relieved it wasn’t any worse. And you didn’t upset me, Anakin. It’s something I still haven’t fully dealt with, but if I really didn’t want to talk about it, I wouldn’t have.”

They frowned in confusion as it sounded like the volume was being lowered on Obi-Wan’s voice. When her hand abruptly hit the couch soon after, Anakin understood what happened. “You ran out of energy.” It always took him a little while to recharge since he didn’t want them to feel it. Anakin usually tried not to talk to Obi-Wan when he knew Obi-Wan couldn’t respond, but he was afraid that if he didn’t get the words out now, he never would.

“It makes me so happy that you feel comfortable enough to tell us what happened. Even though I haven’t known you for very long, I think of you as my close friend. I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for you, and I believe it was fate that we went to the house while you were there. I had always looked forward to going home after work so I could be with Padmé, but now I look forward to coming home to both of you. The three of us together . . . just feels right.”

Padmé was smiling at him like he hadn’t put his foot in his mouth for once. “I also enjoy your company, and I hope you know you’re welcome to stay with us for as long you want to.”

It felt as if an hour went by before Obi-Wan finally spoke, and the hopeful lilt in his voice made Anakin wish he could pull him into a bone-crushing hug.

“I won’t get in the way?”

“Of what?” she asked as she sat closer to him.

“Your relationship with each other.”

Padmé shook her head. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but Anakin and I don’t fight often, and when we do, it’s over quickly. Our relationship is strong.” She paused and gave Anakin a contrite look, which meant she was going to say something he might take offense to. “I actually think you being here is good for our marriage because Ani has a lot of love to give, and it can be a little overwhelming for one person to handle.”

Anakin opened his mouth to comment on that, but he closed it when he realized she didn’t see it as a negative trait.

“You know what? Let’s get rid of the two days a week where you can’t be in the apartment,” she said with a smile. “If we need some time to ourselves, we’ll tell you.”

That had been for Padmé, so Anakin was more than happy to go back to how things were before.

“If that’s what you want, alright.” He sounded unsure, but there was a hint of optimism. “When you said Anakin has a lot of love to give—”

“Don’t worry,” Anakin interrupted. “I love you as a friend.”

No, that wasn’t it. He kept calling Obi-Wan his friend, and it didn’t sound right anymore. Anakin loved all of his friends, but he didn’t want to live with them. He didn’t have a deep emotional connection with them as he did with Obi-Wan. His feelings for Obi-Wan were closer to his feelings for Padmé, yet there was a very clear divide because he wasn’t in love with him. Even though it was difficult to put it into words, he had to try because leaving it as “friend” was oddly distressing.

“Wait, I take that back.” Padmé’s eyebrows shot up. He had to talk quickly or she would get the wrong impression. “You’re more than a friend to me, but I’m not in love with you. I want to spend all my time with you and Padmé. I feel like I’ve known you for years. You’re a source of emotional support, and I want to be the same for you. It’s . . . really hard to explain, but I _know_ I would be devastated if you left and never came back, just like if Padmé left. I’m sorry if this is freaking you out. I just wanted you to understand how important you are to me.”

He figured Obi-Wan would need some time to process all that, but he didn’t expect to feel an enormous swell of joy. Laughter bubbled up his throat before he could stop it.

Padmé tilted her head to one side. She probably thought he was having some kind of mental breakdown. “Ani, are you alright?”

“Yeah, that’s not— It’s just a reaction, like the tears from earlier.”

She nodded and looked to the spot where Obi-Wan was sitting on the couch. “As long as it’s okay with Anakin, you can stay inside after we go to bed. You can even watch something on TV if you keep the volume low enough.”

Anakin grinned. “I am absolutely okay with that.”

“Thank you,” Obi-Wan said quietly, “both of you. It’s funny. I no longer have a body, yet I sometimes act like I do when my emotions run high.”

Padmé got that look on her face she always did when she was learning a new fact about spirits. After finding out they were actually real, nearly every aspect of them fascinated her. It was very endearing. “Maybe it’s because those reactions are ingrained in your memory, so they’re just automatic and rely on . . . ghost biology?”

Obi-Wan’s laughter ended with a light sniffle, which meant the reaction he’d been referring to was crying. “I’m not sure if ‘biology’ is the word I’d use, but you might be on to something. After all, I shouldn’t even be able to speak since I don’t have lungs.”

“I’ve wondered about that,” she said.

Despite being interested in the supernatural for over a decade, Anakin never cared about the mechanics of it all. He only wanted to know what a spirit could do, not _how_ they did it. He went into the kitchen for a snack as Padmé and Obi-Wan started nerding out together. The two of them talked animatedly for the next half hour with Obi-Wan occasionally demonstrating his ghostly talents. Anakin was surprised by his lack of jealousy as he listened to them while he ate and played games on his phone. Once he was alone with her, it was likely she’d want to discuss his feelings for Obi-Wan, but he didn’t know what else he could say since he wasn’t any closer to understanding it.

After Padmé wished Obi-Wan a good night and left the room, Anakin felt self-conscious. He’d bared his soul, yet Obi-Wan hadn’t even said Anakin was his friend.

“That meant more to me than you could ever know.” Obi-Wan’s voice moved closer to Anakin as he spoke until he placed his hands on Anakin’s shoulders, sending a pleasant chill through him. “You are very dear to me. I don’t remember a time in my life—whether alive or dead—where I smiled as much as I have in the past two months. Wait, it has been two months, right?”

Anakin chuckled as he nodded. “A little over.”

When Obi-Wan removed his hands, Anakin had to stop himself from asking him to put them back. He always did thrive on physical touch. After hearing how happy he made Obi-Wan, he really wished he could hug him, but he was afraid of making it awkward since he couldn’t see Obi-Wan.

“I’ll stay in tonight. I don’t want to waste your electricity, though.”

“It’s fine. The amount the TV uses is minimal. If you’re worried about the volume, everything on Netflix has closed captions, so you can just mute the TV and turn them on. If you need a little energy boost to use the remote at any point, feel free.” He pointed at himself.

“I think I’ll be alright.”

His amused tone made Anakin smile. “Well, I should go to bed. Good night.” With only a light touch on his arm as a warning, Obi-Wan kissed his cheek. It was so unexpected that heat quickly rose to his face.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No! I mean, it’s totally okay. I’m an affectionate person with pretty much everyone I care about. You just caught me by surprise. And I didn’t know you have a beard. It’s really strange that I don’t actually know what you look like. Not that I _have_ to know what you look like or that knowing would change my mind about future kisses. It’s just— I mean, for me to feel as strongly about you as I do without even— Sorry, I’m babbling. I told you to stop me when I do that.”

“I think it’s cute. And I understand. I’ll see if I can make myself visible tomorrow.”

Anakin could tell he was still blushing, but he didn’t care. “Okay.”

“Good night, Anakin.”

“Good night.”

Padmé raised an eyebrow at him as he walked into their bedroom, so he knew he was smiling like a goofball. “I got a kiss,” he said as he pointed at his cheek. He had brushed his teeth and changed into his sleep clothes earlier in the night, so he was able to go straight for the bed.

“Ani, are you sure you aren’t in love with him?” While her expression didn’t give much away, she didn’t sound too concerned.

“I’m sure. It’s similar to how I feel about you, but it’s not romantic. I can’t explain it very well. Does it bother you?”

Thankfully, she shook her head. “I never thought your hobby would lead to this, but I’m glad he’s here.”

Anakin kissed her. He was so lucky to have both of them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those who celebrate it, I hope you have a safe Halloween.

Obi-Wan hadn’t known that the next day was Halloween. It wasn’t a holiday he had any interest in while he was alive, and that hadn’t changed much after he died. All it did was give him something different to look at. Some costumes were very creative, and there were certain streets that went all out with their decorations. It reminded him a little of Christmas, when his parents would drive him and his sisters around to look at the lights. Because he never saw Halloween decorations like that during his childhood, and he hadn’t paid attention as an adult, it was still a bit new to him.

This year, Obi-Wan preferred to be with his friends rather than walk among the trick-or-treaters, so he went to their apartment once the sun was nearly set. Not seeing Anakin around, he knocked on the wall to let Padmé know he was there, but he realized he should have knocked on something else when she started walking toward the door. “No, that was me.” Padmé kept going, which meant he didn’t have enough energy to be heard. Looking around, he spotted an aluminum pan on the stove and gave it a quick rattle. He tapped on it when she walked back into the kitchen with a slight frown.

A dazzling smile broke out on her face. “Hello, Obi-Wan. Sorry, I thought it was an early trick-or-treater. Anakin should be home soon.”

Obi-Wan didn’t go there just to spend time with Anakin. He enjoyed being around both of them, but he needed more time to draw on her energy before he could correct her.

“I don’t know if he told you that he likes to dress up. It’s mostly for the little ones. We get less and less kids every year, though.”

“He mentioned it.” She looked in his direction, so she heard him that time. “And I don’t just come here for Anakin. You’re also my friend.”

She made accidental eye contact as she smiled again. “I know. You’re my friend too, but you’re closer to him. He did assure me that he’s not in love with you, in case you were worried about that.”

“No, I’ve heard of platonic relationships that somewhat resemble romantic ones. I’m glad it doesn’t bother you.”

The sound of the deadbolt turning in the front door let them know Anakin was home.

“I don’t see the harm in it,” she said with a shrug.

Anakin walked by the kitchen with a quick “hello,” but he backed up and looked around the room. “I guess not today then?”

Padmé clearly had no idea what he was referring to, so Obi-Wan assumed Anakin was talking to him, and it took a second for it to click. “Oh, I’m going to a party later to drain whichever man is being the most predatory.” He couldn’t remember if he’d told Anakin about his vigilante days, but he didn’t look surprised.

“Okay. I have to get changed.” He kept talking as he walked down the hallway. “I saw some kids walking around.”

“Was that about you becoming visible?” Padmé asked.

“Yes. I don’t blame him for wanting to see me.”

He would feel the same way if he was in Anakin’s position, but he was surprised that Anakin hadn’t even asked Padmé to describe what he looked like, unless she just forgot to tell him he had a beard. Obi-Wan still didn’t know what possessed him to give Anakin that kiss. At least his friend hadn’t reacted poorly to it.

Was Anakin his friend? That word wasn’t sufficient for how Anakin felt about him, but Obi-Wan wasn’t sure if he should use it for Anakin. He wasn’t in the habit of examining his feelings for anyone. If he enjoyed spending time with a person, they were his friend, but he couldn’t remember feeling as relaxed and happy with any of the friends he had while alive as he did with Anakin. Maybe being dead affected his emotions, or maybe he’d been lonely for so long that he was latching onto the first person who showed genuine interest in him.

Obi-Wan had initially thought he would grow bored of Anakin and Padmé, but somewhere along the way, he became nervous about them growing bored of him. The novelty of having a spirit hanging around their apartment would wear off, and they’d cast him out as if he was a cheap toy. He knew it wasn’t a rational thought since neither of them gave any inclination that he was a nuisance. When Anakin brought up giving them some space, Obi-Wan didn’t take that as a slight against him because he’d spent a lot of time in the apartment, more than usual for a friend. He never wanted to get in the way of their relationship. Padmé made a good point, though. Anakin could be . . . a lot, so having another person for him to focus his affections on would prevent her from feeling smothered. He didn’t know how she dealt with it for the past six years.

“Obi-Wan? Are you still here?”

He’d gotten lost in his thoughts, something he used to do a lot as a teenager and started doing again as a spirit. He hoped he hadn’t been ignoring Padmé for too long. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

She huffed out a laugh. “It’s alright. Have you drained men at parties before?”

“Yes. I went through a period of wanting to help the living as if I was some kind of superhero, but it didn’t always work out so well. If I go to a party that’s very crowded, my sudden appearance won’t really be noticed. There tend to be a lot of those on Halloween night, so the timing is good.”

The doorbell rang, and after Anakin called out that he wasn’t ready, Padmé headed over to the door. “I got dragged to a Halloween party when I was in college. It was full of drunk frat boys and terrible music. I don’t think I even stayed for an hour.”

“I wasn’t much for parties at university either,” Obi-Wan said after she was done handing out candy. “The one I got dragged to had some very, ah, handsy people.”

“Looking the way you do, I can imagine you got a lot of attention in college.” Even though she couldn’t see his raised eyebrows, she cringed as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “I’m sorry. I just meant you’re conventionally attractive and— Let’s forget I said anything.”

It seemed like Padmé was embarrassed not just for saying he was attractive, but also because she thought she’d made him uncomfortable. He had to smile at that. It was rare for his friends to watch what they said around him after he explained why he didn’t want to sleep with anyone or want a romantic partner. He knew it was difficult for people to understand, but maybe having a husband who was demisexual gave Padmé a better perspective.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m aware of what I look like.”

“Oh, did Padmé tell you she thinks you’re very handsome?”

Anakin was standing in the living room dressed as a pirate. The right sleeve of his puffy, white shirt was tied in a knot below his residual limb, and he wore a patch over his right eye that didn’t completely cover his scar. Seeing Anakin use the marks the accident left on his body as part of a costume meant he really hadn’t just been all talk when he said they didn’t bother him.

“Anakin!”

“What? Saying someone’s handsome doesn’t mean you want to sleep with them. Even Obi-Wan said I am ‘quite stunning.’”

Obi-Wan had to hold in his laughter, lest Anakin thought he was being made fun of. When Obi-Wan gave him that compliment, Anakin’s face turned bright red, yet now he stood there with his hand on his hip and his chin in the air like he was posing on a runway.

Padmé rolled her eyes, but she was smiling like she was also trying not to laugh. When the doorbell rang again, she stepped out of the way to let Anakin take care of it. Her smile turned fond when he greeted the small children in a stereotypical pirate voice while using cheesy pirate slang.

“You know,” she said quietly, “if you still want to be around after we have kids, they’ll have a blast with you.”

She thought Obi-Wan would leave them because he chose to and not because they told him to. He wasn’t sure what to say.

“Unless you don’t like kids.”

He couldn’t stay quiet after that. “I like children. I just never expected to have any of my own, for obvious reasons.”

Padmé sat on the couch and patted the spot to her right. Judging by the look on her face, there was something she wanted to ask him. After Obi-Wan sat down, he smiled when he heard Anakin’s exchange with the next batch of kids.

“What happened to your arm?”

“An accident,” Anakin said simply, dropping his pirate voice.

“You chopped off your own arm by accident?!”

He laughed, but the boy’s mother was clearly horrified. “No, it’s okay. I lost it in a car accident years ago. Now I have a cool robotic arm.”

“No way! Can we see it?”

The kid would probably be disappointed since it was nothing like the robotic limbs seen in movies. It was a wedding gift from Padmé’s wealthy parents, and Obi-Wan couldn’t believe how much it cost. Even the regular prosthetic Anakin used before was expensive.

“But they didn’t exist when pirates roamed the seas. Come back next year when I’ll be a cyborg.”

Padmé was smiling too as she looked toward the front door. “He’s so good with kids. I know he’ll be a great father.”

“He told me he wants five children, but I doubt you want to go through that.”

“Definitely not!” she said with a laugh. “We’re going to see how we feel after two.” Padmé’s gaze dropped to her lap. “Um, there’s something I’ve been curious about. We asked you about it at the house, but I get the feeling you didn’t give the real answer.”

“Go ahead.”

“Why haven’t you moved on?”

He was surprised it took that long for either of them to ask, but if they had asked in the beginning, he probably wouldn’t have told them. Now he felt comfortable enough to say it. “I’m afraid of what’s on the other side.” He was used to being lonely, so the past four years hadn’t been that bad. In fact, he was glad he stayed because he met Anakin and Padmé.

She nodded. “I would be afraid if I had to make that journey on my own.”

“I’ll be with you.” Obi-Wan said it automatically, and it startled him at first, but they both meant so much to him that of course he would be there when they died, which hopefully wouldn’t be for another 50 years. And crossing over with them after they both died just felt right.

“Padmé, are you okay?” Anakin was finally done handing out candy and moved to stand in front of her. “What happened?”

She hastily wiped at her eyes before smiling. “I’m fine. Obi-Wan is very sweet.”

Anakin grinned in return.

* * *

Giving candy to the older kids wasn’t as fun, but at least most of them had proper costumes and weren’t just walking around in a mask. There was one chocolate bar left that he’d decided to save for himself, so he locked the door and shut off their outside light to signal they were out of candy. Throwing himself onto the couch with a sigh, he took off his bandana and ruffled his hair. He’d taken the eyepatch off an hour ago.

“We got about as many kids as last year, I think. Obi-Wan did say he was coming back, right?”

Padmé nodded. “Did you tell him Rex and Ahsoka are coming over tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I can’t wait to see the look on Rex’s face.” His friend had gotten home from New Zealand two days ago, and since they all had the tradition of watching shitty horror movies around Halloween, he thought it would be fun to wait until Rex got there to tell him about Obi-Wan. “At least he probably won’t be mad at me about not saying anything sooner.”

“I don’t know. He was very into the evidence of that last outing.”

The doorbell rang, and Anakin rolled his eyes. “I bet it’s stupid teenagers,” he mumbled. He got up to check anyway, and when he reached the door, a tingling sensation traveled up his spine, which meant Obi-Wan was back. He looked behind him with barely concealed excitement, but he saw nothing. Maybe Obi-Wan didn’t have any luck at whatever party he went to. Anakin flicked the outside light on and looked through the peephole to see an older man who had a really nice smile. It was probably a neighbor looking for a lost pet, but with it being Halloween night, it was better to play it safe, so he put the chain on the door before he opened it. “Can I help you?”

“Did you actually run out of candy, or are you saving an entire bag for yourself?”

Anakin slammed the door in Obi-Wan’s face. _Holy shit. He’s gorgeous._

“Ani, who was it?”

“Obi-Wan.”

She laughed. “Then why did you react like that?”

Anakin quickly took the chain off and opened the door to an amused Obi-Wan. It was so strange to actually see what he was feeling rather than try to figure it out by his tone. “Sorry. You startled me.”

“It’s alright.” He walked past Anakin into the apartment. “I just thought it would be a fun way to reveal myself.”

“Oh, you’re wearing a different outfit,” Padmé said.

“I change it up now and then.”

Anakin knew it was rude to stare, but he couldn’t help it. He was actually _looking at_ Obi-Wan. “You’re tall.” Why was that the first thing he commented on? It was like all but one of his brain cells had died en masse.

Obi-Wan’s smile grew wide enough that creases formed at the corners of his eyes. “You’re a bit taller, though.”

“Can I hug you?” He wanted to punch himself. It wasn’t that unusual for him to just blurt out whatever was on his mind, but he didn’t want to creep Obi-Wan out.

Luckily, Obi-Wan chuckled as he held his arms up at his sides in invitation.

Hugging Obi-Wan was surreal because at first, it felt no different from hugging a living person who happened to be freezing. But as the seconds ticked by, Anakin noticed everything that felt wrong. There was no heartbeat, no expansion and contraction of Obi-Wan’s chest, and no living being was _that_ cold. Anakin couldn’t stop the shiver that went through his body. Despite all that, he didn’t want the hug to end, but Obi-Wan pulled back with sadness behind his smile.

“The worst hug you’ve ever had, right?”

Anakin shook his head vigorously. “Not at all! Just different.”

“May I?” Padmé got up from the couch and walked over to them. “Who knows when I’ll get the opportunity again.”

“Of course.”

They looked cute together, with Obi-Wan closing his eyes and Padmé resting her head on his shoulder. It was like watching two friends embrace after having been apart for years. Anakin had to keep reminding himself that Obi-Wan was dead, but he didn’t find that upsetting anymore. Being able to see him, to hold him, it helped Anakin make peace with the fact that there would always be limitations with their relationship.

Padmé shivered when they separated, and she covered the cheek that was on his shoulder with her palm to warm it back up. “You’re like a squishy ice sculpture.”

At least since Obi-Wan laughed, he clearly didn’t take offense. Maybe Padmé also wanting a hug made him less self-conscious. “That’s a unique description. Neither of you felt like anything, temperature-wise. It was just the pressure from your bodies.”

“Did you hate it?” Anakin wanted to hug Obi-Wan in the future, but only if he enjoyed it too.

“No. I’ve . . . missed human touch.”

Anakin swore that if Obi-Wan could, he’d be blushing because he had a slightly pained expression while he looked at the floor. Anakin itched to hug him again.

Padmé smiled as she took one of his hands between her own. “Does it feel different when you’re visible?”

Obi-Wan glanced at their hands and shrugged. “I don’t think so. I never actually notice when I have enough energy to interact with the world of the living in any capacity. Being a spirit is rather boring when it comes to sensation.”

“But you can do so many amazing things,” she pointed out. “That has to make up for it.”

One corner of his mouth quirked upward. “It _is_ very convenient that my travel time has been cut down to seconds. Also, as long as I’m nearby, it’s a lot easier to protect both of you from anyone who wishes to harm you.”

“How exactly would you do that?” Padmé let go of his hand. “Obviously, if you could be heard, you could just scare the person, but what if you were too low on energy?”

“If it was too risky to become visible, I would incapacitate them. Remember the pain you felt the very first time we met, Anakin?”

“It was as if dozens of needles were stabbing my spine.”

Obi-Wan looked at him with concern. Anakin had never told him what it felt like. “While that was an accident, I can easily do something like that on purpose.”

Padmé asked him more questions, and since Obi-Wan was focused on her, Anakin didn’t feel bad about staring at him. He had such an expressive face, which made Anakin wonder if he was always like that, or if he became that way because no one could see him for years. People had told Anakin ever since he was a teenager that he should be a model, but Obi-Wan fit the description of a model better than he did. Strangely enough, he didn’t feel sexually attracted to him. He’d been sexually attracted to one of his male friends when he was younger, so he was definitely bi. But even with the deep emotional connection, the thought of fantasizing about Obi-Wan made him very uncomfortable.

“Ah!” Both Padmé and Obi-Wan looked at him with raised eyebrows. “Um, you’re starting to fade.”

“I can’t tell, so just let me know when I’m invisible again. We should time it the next few times I drain someone. I’m curious if it varies or not.”

“That’s a good idea,” Padmé said enthusiastically. “You should experiment with it a little too. Maybe try taking energy from many people at once to see if that has the same outcome as draining a single person. And now you’re invisible.”

“Theoretically, that should work.” He briefly touched Anakin’s forearm. “I hope that lived up to your expectations, Anakin.”

“It exceeded them. Thank you.”

Obi-Wan laughed. “You’re welcome. Will your friends be satisfied with just hearing me?”

“If you talk and maybe do the trick with the cabinets, they’ll pass out from excitement.”

* * *

Rex stood in the middle of their living room with his arms crossed. “Okay, so what has got Ahsoka so damn hyper? She says she promised she’d keep her mouth shut, but I’d find out what the big secret is tonight. Did you do something stupid again?” He made a face. “Please tell me you didn’t go back to that building full of sludge.”

Padmé still remembered how horribly Anakin smelled when he came home from that investigation.

“No. I was just as grossed out by that as you were. Plus, I think it’s been demolished.”

“There is so much about this hobby of yours that you haven’t told me.”

Both Rex and Ahsoka froze, their eyes wide.

“That . . . that voice sounds familiar,” Rex said as he slowly looked around the room.

“Yes, hello. You heard me on the audio recordings.”

Padmé had to smile at the pure awe on Ahsoka’s face, especially since Ahsoka already knew about Obi-Wan being in their apartment. She supposed knowing was one thing, but actually hearing proof of it was another.

Rex took Anakin by the shoulders and shook him once. “What the hell did you do?” Rather than being angry, he was scared for Anakin. A ghost following someone home did sound frightening. Really, they just got lucky that Obi-Wan didn’t turn out to be a malevolent spirit.

Padmé put a hand on Rex’s arm. “It’s alright. Obi-Wan has been staying with us ever since that night at the house. He’s our friend.” Rex had said he was relieved Anakin married her because she had a good head on her shoulders, so her saying there wasn’t anything to worry about would settle his nerves.

Rex let go of Anakin and looked around the room warily. “Their friend, yeah?”

“I can assure you I mean them no harm.”

“This is so cool,” Ahsoka whispered as she grinned at Anakin.

Padmé urged them all to sit down. She didn’t think they would ever get to the horror movie with the way the night was going. “We could hear Obi-Wan after he learned how to take our energy slowly enough that we don’t feel tired. That helps his ability to touch objects as well.”

Anakin was beaming. “I already told him he’s gonna be my human-sized ice pack next summer.”

Ahsoka sat up straighter. She was far more excited about Obi-Wan than Rex was, but she’d also had more time to process his existence as their sort of ghost roommate. “Wait, he can touch _people_ too? Can you touch my hand?” She held her hand out in front of her.

“Yes, but Anakin wasn’t exaggerating about how cold I am.”

She jumped. “Oh my god. A ghost is touching me. This is _so_ amazing!”

Anakin rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling. “I did warn you she’d be like this.”

“Hey! You’ve been having your ghost fun for over two months. Let me have my moment.”

“Can we see you?” Rex asked.

“I don’t have enough energy for that. Typically, I have to drain a person to the point of them losing consciousness, which is not something I do often.”

“He did that to me when I was having trouble sleeping one night,” Anakin said.

Ahsoka chuckled as she rubbed the back of her hand. “So Obi-Wan’s like an ice pack _and_ a fast-acting sleeping pill.”

Padmé didn’t think Obi-Wan would take offense to that comment since he liked being helpful. He was always asking if there was something he could do in the apartment while they were at work. “He also helps with cleaning and putting groceries away.”

For whatever reason, that was what impressed Rex. “Damn, I’d like a ghost roommate. How long are you planning on staying with them?”

“He’s not a servant,” Anakin said with mild annoyance.

“I’m sure he was joking, Ani.”

“I’ll stay for as long as they’ll have me. Their friendship is very important to me, but I don’t want to overstep my bounds.”

Ahsoka’s smile was more subdued than earlier. “I’m glad we went back to the house. Actually, I think it was fate since you were the person who saved Anakin’s life. I’ll never forget what he looked like in that hospital bed.”

“Wait, what?” Rex leaned toward Anakin, his eyebrows raised slightly. “Was he the doctor who operated on you after the accident?”

“No, he saw the wreck and called 911. No one else had driven by after that, so I might have just died on the side of the road if it wasn’t for him.”

Rex sat back as he took that in. “The comment about your arm makes sense now.” He nodded and looked at the space on the couch where Obi-Wan was sitting. “Anakin was the first friend I made when I came to this country, and although he’s taken at least 10 years off my life with his recklessness, he’s done a lot for me that most people wouldn’t bother with. He’s family now, so thank you.”

It took a moment for Obi-Wan to respond. “You’re welcome.”

Anakin had shrunk in on himself a little, his eyes cast downwards. It was what he always did when he felt guilty about something. “I’m sorry. I was being childish for keeping this to myself.”

“Ah, it’s alright,” Rex said. “Does this mean you aren’t going to do investigations anymore?”

Padmé hadn’t even thought of that. It wasn’t unusual for Anakin to go a few months without doing an investigation, but he always did something in October. She knew part of the reason he went out was to find answers because that was what started his hobby all those years ago, but he could just ask Obi-Wan. The other part was the thrill of the unexpected, which would still be there as long as Obi-Wan didn’t go with him, so she figured he wanted to do investigations, but maybe not as often. Now that Padmé knew there was an actual risk, she didn’t want him to go at all.

“I don’t know. Obi-Wan explained how dangerous it is and that we’ve been really lucky that no malevolent spirits have followed us home.”

Ahsoka frowned at that answer. She was into the paranormal almost as much as Anakin was. “Couldn’t Obi-Wan come with us? He could tell us if we shouldn’t go into a building. Plus, what about the people we’ve helped by telling them their house isn’t actually haunted?”

“I would happily tag along if you were doing it to help someone,” Obi-Wan said, “and if there is a spirit inside, I could try asking them to leave. I can’t talk to the ones that are stuck in a loop, though.”

“We’d save money in sticking to people’s homes,” Rex pointed out.

Anakin looked between his two friends and smiled. “Yeah, if Obi-Wan comes with us, it should be okay.”

“That would certainly make me feel better, like you all have a guardian angel with you,” Padmé said.

“Pfft. I’m no angel.”

Ahsoka perked up. “Wait, so do angels exist?”

The conversation turned into a Q&A, and Obi-Wan answered their questions patiently, even the ones Padmé or Anakin had already asked him. As she’d thought, they never got around to watching the movie, but talking with a ghost was far more interesting anyway. She was happy to see them all get along so well.

Anakin probably didn’t tell Rex and Ahsoka what Obi-Wan was to him because he didn’t feel like trying to explain it again. She only vaguely understood it herself, but as she spent more time with Obi-Wan, Anakin’s feelings about the man were starting to become clear to her. Maybe she would end up thinking of him in the same way.

After their friends left, and Anakin was getting ready for bed, Padmé opened Netflix and made a profile for Obi-Wan. She and Anakin had their own profiles since their movie preferences didn’t always line up. As much as she liked romance, Anakin loved schmaltzy movies that she wanted to roll her eyes at, so it was better they each had their own watch lists. Obi-Wan should have his own too.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” he said.

“Why not? Even if you don’t want to watch something at night, you can during the day when you’re not in the city.”

“Yes, but—”

He didn’t continue. He actually sounded a little distressed, and she couldn’t figure out why. It was just a Netflix profile. Or maybe . . .

“Obi-Wan, you know this is your home, right?”

As expected, he didn’t say anything at first. He was always somewhat cautious around the topic of his place with them, which was understandable given his past. It made her chest hurt to think of how lonely he’d been.

“It is?” His voice sounded so small.

Smiling, she held her hand out to where she thought he was, and he took it after some hesitation. “Of course. And when we finally move into a house, I hope you’ll come with us.”

After he squeezed her hand, he laid a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Thank you.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to finish this story. My level of motivation has been all over the place, which I'm sure many of you can relate to.

“I’m surprised you don’t go anywhere on New Year’s Eve,” Obi-Wan said as he helped empty the dishwasher.

“Really big parties make me feel so awkward." Anakin went to family gatherings because he had to, but the last time he went to a party with people around his age, he thought he was going to die. "Padmé’s out with her friends tonight so she can spend tomorrow with us.”

“A quiet New Year's Eve is the best kind. You know, I went to the Times Square celebration just to see what all the fuss was about.”

That would be Anakin’s worst nightmare. Every time he saw pictures of it, he wondered what people did when they had to use the bathroom. “And what did you think?”

“Overrated.”

Anakin laughed.

“Watching the fireworks in Sydney is nice, though.”

“I wanted to go to Australia before Rex talked up his home country. Me and Padmé have been planning a trip to New Zealand based on his suggestions. We never had a honeymoon, so it’ll be like half honeymoon, half regular vacation. You should come.”

Obi-Wan made the funniest noise, and it was a crime that Anakin couldn’t see his face. “I’m not coming with you on your honeymoon!”

“But it’s only _half_ a honeymoon. Padmé said she’d like it if you were with us.”

Obi-Wan finished putting the utensils away before he spoke. “I’ll think about it.”

“Okay,” he said with a grin. “Maybe it’ll help if I show you what we have planned so far. That way you’ll know how much of the trip is supposed to be romantic.”

“Maybe.”

Done with emptying his portion of the dishwasher, Obi-Wan put his hand on Anakin’s back as he walked out. About a month ago, he started using touch to let them know when he was leaving the room because they sometimes kept talking to him after he left. Being so accustomed to the tingling sensation, Anakin didn’t always pay attention to when it disappeared, and Padmé couldn’t feel Obi-Wan’s presence at all.

Much to Anakin’s delight, Obi-Wan had become more tactile over the past two months, and he even gave them a kiss every night before they went to bed, which he knew Padmé also enjoyed. Anakin wished they could cuddle when they watched a movie, but Obi-Wan was too cold for that. It was something he looked forward to in the summer.

After Anakin finished loading the dirty dishes, he immediately knew where Obi-Wan had gone to when he saw a book floating over the loveseat. Because Anakin was available as an energy source, there was no need to use the book weight Padmé bought for him. Obi-Wan had made an offhand comment about missing his books, and it took Padmé two weeks to get him to say what he’d like to read. She got him five books, but he blew through those in less than a month. He refused to accept any more because he felt uncomfortable about them spending money on him, so Padmé took him to the library to pick out whatever he wanted. Anakin couldn’t stop smiling when she told him how adorably excited Obi-Wan was while looking through the stacks.

Rather than disturb Obi-Wan, Anakin played a game on his phone. He’d gotten a lot better at being able to enjoy someone’s company without needing to interact with them.

Padmé stumbling through the door soon after. She took a Lyft so she could drink, and it was clear she had more than she usually did. “Hello, my two handsome men!”

“Hello there,” Obi-Wan said with a chuckle. He put his book down and helped her get her coat off.

Anakin gave her a kiss after she practically fell onto the couch. “You’re going to be so cranky in the morning.”

“Better than you.” Padmé leaned away from him, but since she didn’t fall over, Obi-Wan had to be sitting next to her. She sighed as she rested her cheek on what was probably his shoulder. Maybe the cold felt good. “You’ve never seen him drunk, Obi-Wan. He’s an affectionate, sobbing mess. And then he hisses at you if you try to get him up before noon the next day.”

“That’s an exaggeration!”

“Oh, Ani. Last time, you hugged Sabé and cried about how you couldn’t adopt all the cats from our local shelter.”

Heat rose to his face as Obi-Wan laughed. He had a low tolerance for alcohol, which was why he didn’t drink it often. Although his memories were always fuzzy the next morning, everyone who was there remembered and liked to make fun of him for his antics. Even though he knew they did it lovingly, it still hurt.

Obi-Wan propped Padmé back up, and he had to have knelt somewhere near Anakin because his icy hand was cupping Anakin’s cheek. “I’m sorry for laughing.”

Was he that obvious?

Padmé squinted at him before she leaned into his side and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to embarrass you. You’re a cute drunk.”

“Better than a violent one.” Obi-Wan removed his hand and tucked Anakin’s hair behind his ear. “And if you do adopt a cat, I doubt it would like me. Cats and dogs can see spirits, and most don’t have a good reaction to that. It’s as if they know we’re unnatural.”

“There’s nothing unnatural about you,” Padmé said before she yawned.

Anakin got over his embarrassment with the subject change. “Yeah, I’ve never thought of the paranormal in that way. And if you feed the cat enough times, maybe it’ll just associate you with food.”

Obi-Wan huffed out a laugh. “I suppose that could work. Come on, Padmé. I think it’s time for you go to bed.”

Smiling, Anakin watched as Obi-Wan hoisted her up by her forearms and led her toward the hallway. Obi-Wan had already seen both of them in their underwear, so Anakin knew it wasn’t a big deal to Padmé that he was helping her. He fit in so well with them that Anakin couldn’t picture their future without him.

A large yawn took Anakin by surprise. He was more tired than he thought. After getting up with a stretch, he shut off the lights and joined his partners in the bedroom.

* * *

As instructed, Padmé waited at the table with her eyes closed. She had told them not to go overboard, but she knew Anakin couldn’t help himself, so she’d been counting on Obi-Wan to be the voice of reason.

“Okay, angel. Open your eyes.”

She was greeted with what looked to be a three-layer cake, but since it was small in diameter, Anakin either did as she asked or was convinced by Obi-Wan. The candles had different colored flames, which was a nice touch. “Thank you, Ani. It’s beautiful.”

“Obi-Wan helped.”

“I didn’t do much. You know I’m a disaster in the kitchen.”

Padmé almost jumped at the sound of his voice. “Oh! Hello!” Not only was he visible, he was clean-shaven. She marveled at how young he looked without the beard.

“Happy Birthday,” he said with a smile that she could now see a lot more of.

“Thank you, both of you.” Because Anakin always insisted, she made a wish before she blew out the candles.

Anakin draped an arm over Obi-Wan’s shoulders. “He looks so cute, right?”

She laughed as Obi-Wan sighed. “Very cute. Why the change?” He told her once that he could only change his appearance to match what he looked like at any time while alive, so he couldn’t alter the color of his eyes or make himself a foot taller.

“Just wanted to. I’ve had a beard since I was 29, so it’s been . . . I can’t remember how old I’m supposed to be.”

Anakin left Obi-Wan’s side to grab the cake knife and server. “You’ll be turning 40 this June.”

Obi-Wan looked like he needed to sit down. Although he was doing a lot better at knowing how much time had passed since he met them because he had the calendar to look at, it had to be difficult to keep track of time on a larger scale. “I’ll be _that_ old? You’re both too young to want me hanging around.”

Padmé hoped he was joking. She thought that after six months Obi-Wan would have been assured of his place in their lives. “You’re only nine years older than me.”

“And 14 years older than Anakin.”

Anakin shrugged as he took the candles out of the cake. “Doesn’t matter how old you are. I’ll want you around even when you’re 90.”

“That’s assuming you make it to 86. Ahsoka has told me at least five stories of how you nearly died doing something stupid, and Rex told me an additional three stories.”

He gave Obi-Wan an exaggerated pout. “I’m not that bad anymore.”

Padmé cut into the cake since Anakin was distracted, and she almost laughed as she carefully slid the piece out. Of course it wasn’t a simple cake. Instead of three layers, it was six thin layers that were the colors of the rainbow flag. No wonder he took the whole day off. Because they didn’t have that many cake tins, it had to have taken twice as long to bake everything.

“Well, Ahsoka must’ve hit her head because it did _not_ happen like that. Oh, crap. I missed your reaction.”

She smiled up at him. “Ani, I told you not to go overboard.”

“It was easy, just a little time-consuming. I would’ve done the bi flag, but I thought the rainbow flag would have more impact when you cut into it.”

Padmé pulled him down for a kiss and cut him a large piece. She started to cut one for Obi-Wan before she remembered he couldn’t eat. It’d been months since she last treated him like he was alive, but it didn’t upset her this time. Although being dead came with some limitations, it didn’t stop him from being their partner in all the ways that mattered. If Obi-Wan noticed her mistake, he said nothing about it and instead sat at the table between her and Anakin. When their eyes met, he gave her a charming smile, and Padmé leaned forward to give him a quick kiss.

She took a bite without fear. Anakin had a natural talent for baking, and it was a shame he didn’t do it more often. “The cake’s delicious, Ani.”

“I’m glad you like it!”

Obi-Wan folded his arms on the table as he watched them eat. “Anakin played a little trick on me earlier. He cut a small piece off one layer to make sure it tasted alright, and he made a disgusted face before he spat it out into the garbage. I thought the whole thing was ruined.”

Because his mouth was full of cake, Anakin only smiled at him.

After they finished eating, Anakin said he would take care of putting the cake away. Padmé knew something was up when she caught Anakin winking at Obi-Wan as he shooed them out of the kitchen. Instead of sitting on the couch, Obi-Wan opened a door on the entertainment stand and walked over to her holding a small, thin package.

“Should I wait for Anakin?” she asked as she took it from him.

He sat next to her, but he had trouble making eye contact. “No, go ahead. This one is just from me.”

Anakin’s behavior made sense now. He was letting them have a moment together. She tore open the wrapping paper to find a white box, and she smiled when she took the lid off. It was a framed colored pencil drawing of a red panda lounging in a tree. “It’s adorable. Thank you.”

He clasped his hands in his lap as he glanced at her. “Anakin kept telling me it was good, but I’m so out of practice. He even told me I should pick out a frame, and— I don’t want to come across as arrogant, like I think it’s worthy enough to be framed.”

Padmé sat up straighter and looked back at the drawing. “Obi-Wan, you drew this?” She assumed it was a commissioned work from someone online since he never mentioned being able to draw. He had asked what her favorite animal was months ago, but she thought he was just making conversation.

“I did. That’s my fifth attempt. Like I said, I’m out of practice.”

Obi-Wan was beginning to fade, but she wanted to see him smile one more time. She set the frame and its box aside before she covered his hands with her own and kissed his cheek. “I love it. It’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten.”

Although it wasn’t a big smile, it was so full of affection that Padmé’s heart melted. How did she get so lucky?

* * *

Obi-Wan winced at the sound of a door slamming shut upstairs. Anakin was trying not to cry, and poor Luke was frozen in place while he stared at Anakin with wide eyes. It was not the best time for Padmé to be out, but Obi-Wan could handle the aftermath on his own well enough _._

“Luke, why don’t you go play a video game?”

“Um, okay.”

Once they were alone, Obi-Wan brought Anakin in for a hug. “She doesn’t hate you. It was just teenage hormones.” He wished he could hold him for longer, but he didn’t want to give him a chill. Anakin wiped his eyes after Obi-Wan pulled away, and he looked so beaten down that Obi-Wan pressed their foreheads together. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Alright,” he whispered.

Obi-Wan slowly went up to Leia’s room to give her more time to cool off, but when he knocked on her door, she didn’t respond. “Leia, I’m coming in.” He waited to see if she’d yell at him not to—she had been somewhat prickly about any adult being in her room lately—and opened the door after she remained silent. Obi-Wan could teleport inside, but he never wanted the twins to think they had no boundaries with him, like they had no way to keep him out, so he always used the door.

He closed it behind him and walked over to her bed, where she was lying on her side, facing the wall. “Why did you say that to your father?”

“I dunno,” she mumbled. “I was just so angry.”

That much was obvious, but Obi-Wan didn’t understand why Anakin’s harmless question of where she’d been had set her off. Before she got home, Anakin was pacing with worry and kept asking Obi-Wan to go find her. Obi-Wan could have easily tracked her down, but he didn’t think being 15 minutes late warranted such a drastic action. Leia admitting that she ignored his text messages because she was annoyed at him nearly set Anakin off.

“While I agree he can be a little overprotective, you shouldn’t have yelled at him. He had every right to be cross with you. I know it was just 15 minutes, but sending a quick text saying you’d be a little late isn’t asking for too much. Ignoring his texts was even worse because it made him think something happened to you.”

“But I wasn’t even that far away. What’d he think would happen to me between our street and hers?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

She sat up and looked in his direction with a frown. “He’s being paranoid! No one’s gonna kidnap me in the middle of the day, and I know how to cross a street without getting hit by a car!”

“Leia, there’s nothing wrong with being cautious. If he’s paranoid, then so am I and so is your mother. We let you have some independence because it’s good for your development, but you _are_ only 14, which means you’re still a child. You can’t get angry with your father for treating you as such.”

“But it’s true that he can be really annoying! I was stating a fact!”

At least she hadn’t bristled at being called a child. Maybe he was starting to get through to her. “All children think their parents are annoying from time to time. I thought the same about my own. That doesn’t mean you should use it as a tool to cause pain. Saying it in jest is one thing, but saying it in anger is hurtful. Wouldn’t you be upset if Luke had thrown the same words at you?”

Her gaze dropped to the bed. “Yeah.”

“And adding ‘I hate you’ is like twisting the knife.”

“I . . . I don’t actually hate Dad.”

“I know you don’t, but you need to tell him that, and you need to apologize. He’s very upset.”

Leia got off her bed and held her arms out, which meant she wanted a hug. It was something he had taught the twins to do when they couldn’t see him.

After Obi-Wan gave her a tight hug, he followed her downstairs to let Luke know everything was fine. “He probably went into the basement.” Anakin usually worked on one of his projects when he was distressed.

“Will you come with me?”

“No, little one. You have to do this on your own.”

Leia took a deep breath and nodded.

Obi-Wan found Luke in the living room, playing a game like he’d suggested. It was the same one Luke had been playing for weeks, something about a group of rebels trying to overthrow an evil galactic empire. Both Luke and his sister inherited Anakin’s sensitivity to spirits, so Obi-Wan sat next to him without warning.

“Is she gonna apologize?”

“She is. Honestly, I’m more surprised neither of you have snapped at _me_ like that.”

Luke paused the game. “Why would we?”

“Because I’m the parent who spends the most amount of time around you two. Statistically, it should have happened to me already.”

Luke frowned at him while making accidental eye contact. Out of everyone, he made eye contact the most. “You almost sound disappointed.”

Obi-Wan huffed out a laugh. “I’m not. Please don’t take it as an invitation to be a horrible stereotype of a teenager.”

He smiled like he knew something Obi-Wan didn’t and went back to his game. Luke was easier to handle than his sister, but that didn’t mean a grumpy teenager wasn’t lurking inside that ball of sunshine.

Obi-Wan stayed with him to give Anakin and Leia as much time as they needed, and he occasionally asked questions about the plot of the game. Obi-Wan never played video games when he was alive, but Padmé bought one for him years ago since it would give him something different to do while everyone slept. She thought he’d like it because it had to do with animals, and he found it oddly relaxing to play.

The front door opened, and Obi-Wan got up to help Padmé when he saw her struggling with the bags. A few were heavier than he was expecting. “What on earth did you buy?”

“Shhh. Birthday presents,” Padmé whispered before she said at a normal volume, “I didn’t mean to take so long, especially when it’s my turn to cook dinner.”

Obi-Wan followed her up the stairs and waited until they were in her bedroom to speak. “Something happened while you were out.”

“I don’t like the sound of that. Was anyone hurt?”

“Not physically.” As he explained the situation, Padmé sat on the bed and looked at her lap forlornly. He didn’t want her to blame herself for not being there, so he made sure she understood that he didn’t mind taking care of it. “I haven’t seen either of them yet, but I assume the apology went well.”

“You would have known if it hadn’t. They’re both very emotional people.” She chuckled as she looked in his direction. “I swear the twins listen to you more than me or Anakin.”

He never noticed that. “I’m sorry.”

Smiling, Padmé rolled her eyes before she got up and started hiding the presents. “Don’t be. It’s not like they never listen to us. I think their bond with you is a little stronger because you’re here a lot more than we are.” She whirled around from the closet and held her finger up. “I know what you’re thinking, and you need to stop it. Their connection with you doesn’t bother us. We’re glad they have you.”

Obi-Wan sighed. She knew him too well. “And I’m glad I have them.”

Padmé smiled again, but before she could say anything, Anakin appeared in the doorway.

“Luke said you were home. I take it Obi-Wan filled you in.”

She nodded. “Is everything alright now?”

“Yeah.” Anakin leaned against the door frame as his gaze shifted to the bed. Perhaps he was debating if he should take a nap. “Me and Leia had a good talk. Long overdue, really. Thank you for calming her down, Obi-Wan.”

“She was already calm, just a little moody. I’m happy you worked things out.”

Dinner was a normal affair, but the way Anakin and Leia interacted made Obi-Wan realize there had been tension between them for a while. He should have seen her outburst coming.

Leia helped him clean up afterward despite it being Anakin’s turn. She hadn’t been punished for what she said, but maybe she felt a little guilty.

“Hey, Papa? Why don’t you ever spend time with your own family?”

That came out of nowhere. Neither of the twins had asked him much about his blood relatives. They were far more interested in his career. “You’re my family now,” he said as he put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher.

“But don’t you miss them?”

“Sometimes. We got along, but I wasn’t that close with them in the last five years of my life. Besides, confirming ghosts are real might be . . . too much.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Finished with wiping down the counter, she put the pots in the sink and filled them with water. Obi-Wan would have to remind her later to wash them and not let them sit for 12 hours. “When I was little, I used to think you’d leave us to be with your family, which I know is stupid. I mean, if you were gonna do that, you would’ve done it soon after you got the hang of taking people’s energy.”

If he’d known she was worried about being abandoned by him, he would have assured her he wasn’t going anywhere. Obi-Wan hated that she had suffered on her own. “I’m sorry if I did anything to make you think I would leave.”

“You didn’t. It was just me being a kid.” Leia shrugged as she looked at the floor close to where he was standing. “And since no one else had a ghost staying with them, I had nothing to compare our situation to.”

“Well, I promise I’m not going anywhere.”

Leia smiled, something he wished she would do more often. “Yeah, I know.”

The rest of the night had a relaxed atmosphere, and the twins even stayed out in the living room instead of going up to their rooms like they usually did after dinner. All of them settled on a movie to watch, and their phones mostly stayed out of their hands. After what happened between Anakin and Leia, it felt like a moment of healing.

Anakin was the last one to go to bed, and once Obi-Wan gave him his usual hug and kiss good night, he went up to the roof. He liked to stargaze when the sky was clear, and even though he could get a better view where there wasn’t any light pollution, he preferred to stay close to his family when they were vulnerable during sleep.

His life after death was more fulfilling than his actual life had been, and while he occasionally wished he was alive, there were enough perks to being a spirit that he didn’t really mind the limitations of death. And it brought him a sense of peace that he  could help his partners through their own deaths. They all agreed that once they were together on the spiritual plane, they would only stay to help their children through their grief. It was a conversation the three of them had with Luke and Leia a few times once they were old enough to grasp the concept of death. Obi-Wan being there had skewed how they saw death, but in recent years, they claimed to understand that their parents wouldn’t be with them forever.

Clouds slowly rolled across the sky, blocking his view of the stars, so he closed his eyes and listened to the sounds  around him as he patiently waited  to see his loved ones again in the morning.


End file.
